
i^ 






MAP 



\J *■ ^>o AND o<^ ▼ ^ 

VICINITY 

THE REALTY UNION. 



THIS MAP 

MADE ESPECIALLY FOK 

THIS yOLtMH 




A Few of Oakland's Assets 



A NATURAL CITY SITE— Oakland is built on a level area, miles in extent, gradu- 
all}' rising to the foothills, and its opportunities for growth are unlimited. It is 
tile terminus of three Transcontinental Railroads, and the docking point of Ori- 
ental Steamers and ships from all over the world. 

WATER FRONT — Oakland Harbor has 27 miles of water front, owned by the city, 
and eight miles of docks. Millions of dollars are now being spent on water-front 
improvements. 

CLIMATE — Oakland's climate is ideal and leaves nothing to be desired. Temperature 
averages: Spring 55 degrees, Summer 60 degrees. Fall 56 degrees. Winter 49 de- 
grees. No excessive heat or cold. No fogs, heavy winds or cyclones. No Snow, 
no frozen water pipes. Electric or Thunder storms unknown. Floods impossible. 

POPULATION — Oakland's area, 60.77 square miles. It enjoys all the advantages in 
culture, education and business traffic of a cit}- of 300,000, and is the trading center 
of 325,000 population. 

EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES— Oakland has an excellent school system on a 
par with the best in the countrj'. Plenty of up-to-date sanitary school buildings, 
progressive educational methods, and the best teachers and educators that can be 
employed. The world-famous Greek Theater and Universitj^ of California a part 
of its educational equipment. Magnificent Carnegie Free Circulating Library con- 
taining thousands of volumes of the world's best literature. 

ENTERTAINMENT— Oakland's Theaters have kept pace with the city's growth. 
The best attractions in drama, opera, and musical comedy that come to the Pacific 
Coast appear in Oakland. Highest class vaudeville and dramatic stock produc- 
tions the year round. The home of Idora, the "million-dollar pleasure park," 
offering Italian and light opera during summer season. Boating on beautiful Lake 
^ilerritt; art and instruction at Piedmont Park and Art Gallery, and the City 
Museum. 

THE CITY OF HOMES— Oakland as a "Home" City has won a national reputation. 
The beautiful hills, which rise gently above the traffic of the citj', overlooking the 
bay and Golden Gate, ofifer opportunities to the architect, landscape artist and 
home builder that are unsurpassed in any other city in the country. Realt}- com- 
panies have spent millions in the construction of boulevards, winding roads, and in 
general development work. 

TRANSPORTATION — In addition to every facility for shipping and transportation 
by water and rail, Oakland enjoys the best equipped and managed street railway, 
suburban and interurban service in the countrj-. 



MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT— Oakland is an exceptionally well-governed city. The 
men occupying executive offices are men of unquestioned integrity and ability. 
There is no room for the gambler or grafter. There is no "tenderloin," no all- 
night dives, and little to corrupt the youth of the city. Oakland has just put into 
operation a new charter which embodies progressive ideas in government, pro- 
viding for initiative, referendum and recall and giving the people full power. 



GENERAL BUSINESS— Oakland offers great opportunities to the Investor, Home- 
seeker, Business Man, Manufacturer, Merchant and Wage-earner. There are 
upwards of thirty Banks and Financial Institutions, with an aggregate capital of 
Alillions of Dollars. The bay shore and water front are dotted with the busy 
plants of Iron Foundries, Pipe Works, Agricultural Works, Porcelain Works, 
Rubber Works, Manufactories of Sash and Doors, Blinds, Flaxseed Oil, Oil Cake, 
Boots and Shoes, Paints', Ink, Gas Engines, Confectionery, Cotton Mills, Cars, 
Brooms, Knit Goods, Boxes, Notions, Chemicals, Explosives, Cereal Products, 
Flour and Foodstuffs, besides great Wine distributing depots. Ship Yards, Pottery 
Works and Canneries, and a thousand and one enterprises in which raw material 
is modified and transformed for the use and service of men. 

Railroads are spending $20,000,000 in improvements. 

A City Hall costing over a million dollars is under construction, as well as a 
$2,000,000 Hotel, which will rank along with the best in the United States. 

Bank Clearings increased 52 per cent last year, as compared with preceding 
year. Building permits last year, $6,655,786.22, a gain of over 20 per cent on pre- 
ceding year. 



(r^s-^s CONTENTS t^^^^ 

Pages 
GENERAL— 

Foreword — By the Publishers 5 

H. C. Capvvell (portrait) 6 

The City of Oakland — By A. A. Dennison 9-16 

Oakland's Docks — By Daniel H. Bradley 17-26 

Oakland's Streets — By Walter C. Howe 27-31 

Oakland's Public Museum 32-36 

OAKLAND— Its Future— By Mayor Frank K. Mott 127-130 

City Meets All Requirements 131-132 

TRANSPORTATION— 

Key Route and Oakland Traction Company 38-49 

United Properties Co 50-51 

Southern Pacific and Oakland 52-66 

Lance Richardson, District Freight and Passenger Agent, S. P 67 

Western Pacific: The Latest Railroad Across the Continent — By Homer J. 

Carr 68-76 

W. B. Townsend, District Freight and Passenger Agent, Western Pacific .... 77-78 

Santa Fe System 79-86 

T. A. Rigdon, Passenger Agent Santa Fe 87 

J. J. Warner, Gen. Agt., Freight and Passenger Depts., Santa Fe 88 

FINANCE— 

Farmers' & Merchants' Bank 91-94 

Union Savings Bank 95-96 

Central National Bank 97-100 

First National Bank 101-109 

P. E. Bowles, President First National Bank 103 

L. C. Morehouse, Vice-President First National Bank 103 

L. G. Burpee, Vice-President First National Bank 103 

E. N. Walter, Cashier First National Bank 107 

S. H. Kitto, Assistant Cashier First National Bank 107 

C. N. Walter, Assistant Cashier First National Bank 107 

A. D. Thompson, Manager Bond Department, First National Bank 107 

State Savings Bank 110-113 

Oakland Bank of Savings 114-119 

Harbor Bank 120 

Italian Popular Bank 121-123 

G. Ghiglieri, Alanager Italian Popular Bank 122 

Ant. Friant, Cashier Italian Popular Bank 123 

Alameda County Building & Loan Association 124-125 

Security Bank & Trust Co ." 126 

INDUSTRY AND TRADE— 

American Rubber Manufacturing Co 215 

Blaustein, Stanley (portrait) 229 

Boyd, Raymond, Advertising Director (portrait ) 196 

Burchell, H. L., Manager Studebaker Bros. Co. (portrait) 190 

Buswell Paint Company 181 

California Cotton Mills 183 

California Ice Company 171-172 

California Sauce & Pickle Co 205-206 

Capwell's New Department Store 217-218 

Cardinet Candy Company 159-161 

Cardinet, Emile (portrait) 159 

Cardinet, George F. .(portrait) 160 

Code-Portwood Canning Company 148-149 

Doak Gas Engine Company 207-213 

Empire Foundry Company 140-142 

Gier, Theodore, Wine Industry 175-180 

Gier, Theodore (portrait) 177 

Goldberg, Bowen & Co 233 

Golden West Brewing Company '..186-187 

Hogan Lumber Company 165-168 

Hogan, Hugh (portrait) 165 

Hogan, Hugh W. (portrait) 167 

Howard Company 169-170 



Pages 
INDUSTRY AND TRADE— Cont'd.— 

Hub, The, Men's Clothing 224-225 

Jonas, A., President The Hub (portrait) 224 

Jonas, Mervin, Secretary and Manager The llnl) (portrait) 225 

Jonas, Milton, Assistant Manager 'J'lie Hub (jiortrait) 225 

Kennedy. J. J., Coal (portrait) 157-158 

Lake Pharmacy 229-231 

McDonald, W. H., Manager California Ice Co. (portrait) 171 

Moore & Scott Iron Works 162-164 

M. & M. Hat Works 23S 

Moisson, August, Proprietor M. & M. Hat Works (portrait) 232 

Oakland Brewing & Malting Co. ( Blue & Gold Lager) 150-153 

Oakland Warehouse Company 154-156 

Osgood's Drug Stores 227-228 

Pacific Freight & Transportation Co 194-195 

Pacific Manifolding Book Co 146-147 

Pfister Knitting Company 182 

Pike Woolen Company 226 

Pike, R. H., Proprietor Pike Woolen Co. (portrait) 226 

Ransome-Crummey Co., Street and Railroad Contractors 191-193 

Rideout, Walter R., President Pacific Freight & Trans. Co. (portrait) 194 

Riehl, Martin, President Vienna Cafe, Inc 197-199 

Siquera, E. C. Standard Photo-Engraving Co. (portrait) 203 

Sommarstrom Bros., Building Contractors 200-202 

Sommarstrom, M. F. (portrait) 201 

Sommarstrom, Edward (portrait) 201 

Standard Photo-Engraving Co 203-204 

Standard Soap Company 173-174 

Straub, W. B., President Empire Foundry Co. (portrait) 140 

Studebaker Bros. Company 188-190 

Sun Milling Company 1 84-1 85 

Sunset Grocery Company 234-235 

Taft & Pennoyer 219-223 

Western Paper Box Company 143-145 

Western Casket Company 216 

OAKLAND'S TELEPHONE SERVICE— 

Bay Cities Home Telephone Co 236-240 

Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co 241-249 

REAL ESTATE— 

The Piedmont Hills, Wickham Havens Company 252-256 

Home Building on the Easy Payment Plan — By B. L. Spence 257-260 

What the Development of the Foothills Has Meant to Oakland's Growth — 

By Fred E. Reed, of the Laymance Co 261-268 

The Work of the Realty Syndicate 269-273 

FRANK M. SMITH, the Financier-Philanthropist— By James King Steel 274-282 

(Mr. Steel has written an excellent article of absorbing interest on 
Oakland's first citizen.) 

HOTELS AND CAFES— 

Hotel Oakland, the new $:.'.()()0.()00 structure, one of the finest in the United 

States 284-287 

Hotel St. Mark 288-289 

Key Route Inn 290-291 

Casa Rosa Apartments 292-293 

Peralta Apartments ." 294-295 

Forum Cafe 296-297 

The "Cave" Cafe 298-301 

Colonial Cafeterias 302-303 

EDUCATIONAL— 

University of California 306-311 

Oakland's Public Schools 312-313 

Oakland Conservatory of Music 314-317 

Heald's Business College 318-321 

Polytechnic Business College 322-327 



POLITICAL ADMINISTRATION— 

City Officials — Pages 

Xcw City Hall 331-333 

Oakland's New Charter 334-336 

Mayor, Hon. Frank K. Mott. 337-340 

Secretary to Mayor, Harold A. Wilkinson 341 

Commissioner of Public Works, Harry S. Anderson 342 

Commissioner of Streets, William J. Baccus 343-344 

Commissioner of Revenue and Finance and ex-officio Member Board of Edu- 
cation, John Forrest 345 

Commissioner Public Health and Safety, F. C. Turner 346-347 

City Attorney, Ben F. Woolncr 348 

City Treasurer, Edwin Meese 349-350 

City Auditor and Assessor, Geo. E. Gross 351 

Secretary Board Public Works, J. W. Nelson 352 

Superintendent Electrical Department, Geo. R. Babcock-. 353 

Citj- Clerk, Frank L. Thompson 355 

Board of Education — 

Calvin Orr, President 356-357 

?\Iiss Annie Florence Mrown 358 

Frank B. Cook 359 

Dr. A. S. Kelly 360-361 

Harry L. Boyle 362 

S. A. Wentworth 367-368 

M. A. Bronner 370-371 

Dr. J. B. Wood 373 

Leo R. Weil 374 

J. W. McClymonds, Superintendent of Schools 363-364 

R. B. S. York, Deputy Superintendent of Schools 365-366 

Chas. S. Warner, Street Department 369 

Park Commission — 

\\'altcr Manuel. President 375-376 

James P. Edoff 377 

Wilson S. Gould 378 

Henry F. Vogt. Secretary 379 

Geo. E. Dickie, Superintendent of Playgrounds 380 

Malcolm Lamond, Superintendent of Parks 381 

Board of Health — 

Dr. Oliver D. Hamlin 382 

Dr. L. P. Adams 383 

Dr. Chas. Henry Rowe 383 

Dr. William K. Sanborn 384 

Dr. Edward N. Ewer, Health Officer 385 

Dr. Dukes 386 

Civil Service Board — 

Benjamin H. Pendleton 387-388 

H. S. Robinson 389 

L. N. Cobbledick 390-391 

Ex-Councilmen — 

Albert H. Elliot 392 

Oliver Ellsworth 393-394 

John R. MacGregor 395 

Eugene Stachler 396 

A. P. Stiefvater 397-398 

R. C. Vose 399 

Police Courts — 

Plon. George Samuels, Judge 400-401 

Hon. Mortimer Smith, Judge ' 402-403 

Ezra W. Decoto, Prosecuting Attorney 404 

Police Department — 

Adelbert Wilson, Superintendent of Police 405-408 

Oakland Police Force 406 

Police Auto 407 

W. J. Petersen, Chief of Detectives 409-410 



County Officials — Pages 

County Court House ' 411 

District Attorney, W. H. Donahue 412-413 

Judiciary — 

Hon. Everett J. Brown, Judge Superior Court 414 

Hon. John Ellsworth, Judge Superior Court 415-410 

Hon. Thomas W. Harris, Judge Superior Court 417-4] 8 

Hon. Frank B. Ogden, Judge Superior Court 419 

Hon. William H. Waste, Judge Superior Court 420-421 

Hon. William S. Wells, Judge Superior Court 422 

Hon. William R. Geary, Justice of the Peace 423 

Hon. Jas. G. Quinn, Justice of the Peace 433-434 

Hon. Thos. J. Power, Justice of the Peace 424 

Hall of Records 425 

County Treasurer, M. J. Kelly 426 

County Auditor, E. F. Garrison 427-428 

County Assessor, Chas. F. Horner 429-430 

County Tax Collector, James B. Barber 431-432 

County Clerk, John P. Cook 435-436 

County Recorder, Gilman W. Bacon 437 

County Superintendent of Schools, Geo. W. Frick 438-440 

Board of Supervisors — 

John F. Mullins, Chairman 441-442 

Fred W. Foss 443-444 

W. B. Bridge 445 

Daniel J. Murphy 446 

County Coroner, Dr. Chas. L. Tisdale 447-448 

Public Administrator, Dr. H. B. Mehrmann 449 

County Sheriff, Frank Barnet 450-451 

County Surveyor, P. A. Haviland 452 

Maurice S. Stewart 453 

Bacon Building 454 

Alameda County Jail 454 

Oakland Post Office 455 

Interior Oakland Y. M. C. A 455 



GREATER OAKLAND 




Edition De Luxe, 


In Leather 


and 


Gold, $5.00 Per Volume 




Popular Edition, 


In Paper. $1.50 




EVARTS I. BIvAKE 
Editor 




J. h. PEDERSEN 
Business Editor 



Greater Oakland 

•••1911- 



A volume dealing with the big Metropolis on the 
Shores of San Francisco Bay 



Dedicated to the 

Chamber of Commerce 

and 

Commonwealth of Oakland 



E)/a.r^t^ 1. BUKe. e-d 



PACIFIC PUBLISHING CO. 
'Publhhen 

246-247 Bacon Building 
Oakland, Cal. 



.02.3 b 




Editorial Stajff^ 

EVARTS I. BLAKE 

Editor 

J. L. PEDERSEN 

Business Manager 



jissociate Editors 

Walter S. Fenner J. E. Trewin 

Harry V. Keane H. B. Johnson, Jr. 

W. A. Cavanagh J. P. McCarthy 

P. C. Petersen T. C. Asmus 

F. E. Brady Coleman Cox 



Official "Portrait Jlrtist 
R. E. Scharz 



Official Vien) Jlrtists 
Morton & Ketchum 





lOME ONE has said "of the making of books there 
is no end," but when the idea of the present volume 
was conceived, the pubHshers felt that here was an 
jg-:^::^^ opportunity. To put into the hands of a large num- 
^ J) ber of readers throughout the country, a comprehen- 

sive story of the recent wonderful growth and devel- 
opment of the big Metropolis on the shores of San Francisco 
Bay, seemed to us worth while. Oakland has arrived at an 
important mile-stone in her hi^ory, even her near neighbors do 
not fully realize what a great city she has become. 

^ We have tried in these pages to put before the public in an 
intere^ing and forcible manner, some facts as to what Oakland 
is, and some promises as to what she will be in future years. 
We have told of her parks, schools, churches and theatres. 
We have given new and valuable information concerning her 
financial and commercial intere^s and a complete record of her 
Municipal Officials. 

^ To the members of the Chamber of Commerce, and to the 
several city officials and public men who have contributed arti- 
cles and other data in order to make this volume as complete as 
it is, we publicly express our thanks. 

^ In conclusion, we feel some little pride in the rather unusual 
method followed in bringing this volume before the public. 

^ The plan in carrying forward the work has been unique, in 
that no remuneration whatever has been received or asked by 
the publishers, except through the legitimate sale of the book. 

TN£ PUBLISHERS 




H. C. CAPWELIv 

Merchant, Financier and President of the 
Oaki,and Chamber of Commerce 



The City of Oakland 



[By A. A. DEMSON 

Secretary Oakland Chamber of Commerce 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




A. A. DENISON 

The Rnergetic and Progressive Secretary of the 
Oakland Chamber of Commerce 



The City of Oakland 



The City of Oakland 

B\) A A. Tfenison 




HE command of trade routes 
and the facilities for effect- 
ing the greatest economy in 
the production and exchange 
of commodities are the de- 
termining factors in the destiny of cities. 
It is because Oakland, California, possesses 
these advantages tliat its pre-eminence 
among American cities is assured. 

When the genius of Count de Lesseps 
constructed the Suez Canal, it recast the 
commercial geography of the globe and 
transformed the course of the world's trade. 
Another epoch-making event that is to 
change the current of commerce will be 
the completion of the Panama Canal, tTie 
greatest engineering feat of the centuries. 
The holding of the world's fair here to cel- 
ebrate this event i? eminently fitting, for, 
with the completion of the Panama Canal, 
the great bay which opens to the Orient 
through the Golden Gate is to become the 
chief portal of the commerce of the Pa- 
cific Coast. By a fortuitous circumstance 
the early navigators entering this mag- 
nificent harbor dropped anchor close by 
the peninsula which jutted between the bay 
and the Pacific Ocean, and a great city 
grew up there. 

But when the tide of travel was turned 
by the completion of tlie rail routes which 
have their termini upon the east or con- 
tinental shore of the bay, a municipality of 
tremendous potentialities had its beginnings 
on the Contra Costa or opposite shore, 
which took its name from the sturdy 
growth of live oaks, and was called "Oak- 
land." 

This city, which has become famous for 
its residential attractions and its genial 
climate, developing as a seat of culture, of 
education and civic character, is now tak- 
ing its place as one of the chief centers of 
industry, of commerce and of finance on 
the Pacific Coast. 



Oakland is now but beginning to come 
into its birthright of business. Its citizens, 
aroused to an appreciation of its opportuni- 
ties, are devoting themselves to industrial 
and commercial development. The virile 
spirit of the new Oakland, conscious of 
its powers and possibilities, has replaced 
that of the suburban or dependent com- 
munity. The Oakland of 1911 is a vigorous, 
energetic city, imbued with a splendid civic 
spirit. It is a city confident of its own 
destiny — a city beginning to realize its 
prodigal natural endowments — a city that 
is determined to play its part in the great 
drama of events now shaping themselves on 
the shores of the Pacific. 

Many years ago Bancroft, the historian, 
pointed out that a great city was inevit- 
able on this magnificent bay, beside the 
greatest of oceans. Such a city he de- 
clared to be an industrial necessity. The 
ideal location for such a metropolis is on 
the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, 
where that city is rapidly taking shape. 

Already along the twenty-seven miles of 
Oakland's water front car and ship are 
coming together at the natural point of 
transfer for the tremendous trade of the 
Orient. This city is doing its part in 
accelerating this development, not only by 
the improvement of its inner harbor, but 
by facilitating the erection of great termi- 
nals on the eastern bay shore for the ac- 
commodation of the transcontinental rail- 
road systems which already center here 
and others which must ultimately reach this 
harbor. 

The elaboration of these plans is in pur- 
suance of a wise municipal policy which 
recognizes that civic intelligence and en- 
gineering skill must supplement natural ad- 
vantages in creating conditions conducive 
to commercial development. 

Oakland and its sister cities already have 
under way great terminal docks, quays and 



10 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




The City of Oakland 



11 



warehouses, in anticipation of the tremend- 
ous impetus to Pacific Coast commerce, 
which will come with the completion of the 
Panama Canal. With a wise foresight these 
communities are preparing to benefit by 
the vast expansion of trade with the Ori- 
ent, that teeming hive of humanity which 
has from time immemorial been the lure 
of the traders of all lands. 

A great conqueror cheered his legions 
with the cry, "Beyond the Alps lies Italy," 
and so we may say, "Beyond Oakland lies 
the Orient," rich in its rewards for the 
extension of industry and commerce. 

Oakland, "where rail and water meet, is 
the strongest link in the commercial chain 
which is binding Occident and Orient. It is 
the market place at the gate of an inex- 
haustible depot with the products of the 
world behind it." 

In the ancient world, the theatre of 
events was upon the Mediterranean. In 
the middle ages and the early Renaissance 
the scene was shifted to the countries about 
the Atlantic Ocean, and now the West 
fronts the East, and the world's cycle is 
complete on the shores of the "ultimate 
sea." 

There may be other great harbors on 
the Pacific Coast, but it has been determined 
by geography and the contour of conti- 
nents that this great port which opens to 
the Golden Gate shall be to the commerce 
of the Pacific what New York harbor is to 
that of the Atlantic. 

Joaquin Miller, "poet of the Sierras," 
looking down from his home on "The 
Heights" back of Oakland, upon the mag- 
nificent panorama of city and bay, with 
prophetic vision wrote: 

"Deep below us lies the valley, 
Steep below us lies the town, 

Where great sea-ships ride and rally. 
And the world walks up and down. 

"Oh, the sea of lights far-streaming, 
Where the thousand flags are furled, 

And the gleaming bay lies dreaming 
As it duplicates the world." 

It is not a matter of accident, but the 
result of inexorable economic laws that 
five great railroad systems and a score of 



local lines converge at Oakland, California, 
as the natural point of transfer between 
land and water carriers. 

Situated on this magnificent harbor, with 
unsurpassed wharf and warehouse facilities, 
Oakland is the logical center to which grav- 
itate the wonderfully rich and diversified 
natural products of the vast interior valleys 
of California, traversed by the Sacramento 
and the San Joaquin Rivers, a domain of 
varied resources which comprises an em- 
pire in Itself embraced within the confines 
of the splendid commonwealth of Califor- 
nia. 

Another important factor which contrib- 
utes to make a great city and a great port 
is the ideal sites which Oakland affords for 
manufacturing enterprises and the estab- 
lishment of industries under most favorable 
conditions. This city singularly combines 
advantages in assembling raw materials 
with facilities for their fabrication or trans- 
formation and accessibility to waiting mar- 
kets. 

Here is a climate relieved from extremes 
of heat or cold, where effort is an exhilara- 
tion and achievement an inspiration, where 
the artisan may put forth his best endeavors 
and participate in the joy of living. The 
equable climate enjoyed by Oakland and 
the other bay cities is conducive to the 
highest efficiency of labor throughout the 
entire year, while fuel oil and electric en- 
ergy from inexhaustible sources solve the 
problem of cheap motive power. 

These conditions are being recognized 
by the captains of industry and the repre- 
sentatives of big interests who are estab- 
lishing a manufacturing community on the 
east shore of the Bay of San Francisco that 
is yet in its infancy, but which must in- 
evitably be one of the greatest industrial 
centers of the world. 

Appreciating the fact that Oakland oc- 
cupies one of the vantage points of the 
continent for the command of the com- 
merce of the Pacific Coast and the expand- 
ing trade of the Orient, the representatives 
of big business and industrial interests have 
been quick to seize upon the opportunities 
offered in this city and its environs for the 
establishment of manufacturing enterprises 
and the east bay shore is rapidly being oc- 
cupied by important plants, among which 



12 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




The City of Oakland 



li 



may be mentioned the Standard Oil Refin- 
ery, the second largest in the world; the 
shops of the Santa Fe Company and of the 
Pullman Car Company, pipe works, iron 
works, agricultural works, porcelain works, 
rubber works, manufactories of sashes, 
doors, blinds, flax seed oil, oil cake, boots 
and shoes, paints, ink, gas engine, confec- 
tionery, cotton, cars, brooms, knit goods, 
boxes, notions, chemicals, explosives, cereal 
products, flour and food stufifs, besides great 
wine distributing depots, ship building 
plants, pottery works, fruit canneries and 
a thousand and one enterprises in which 
raw material is modified and transformed 
for the use and service of men. 

In the location and encouragement of 
such enterprises, in the making known of 
the opportunities which Oakland offers in 
the promotion of publicity, the centraliza- 
tion of civic activities and in the stimulus 
to public spirit, the Chamber of Commerce 
of Oakland has been an important factor. 

With the transference of fuel oil by pipe 
line and the transmission of electric energy 
by wire, it is no longer necessary to take 
the mill or the factory to the water-fall or 
the mill-dam as the source of power, but 
the power is brought to the place where 
abundant labor, raw material and facilities 
for transportation converge. Such a point 
is Oakland, California. This fact is being 
realized by its people; it is being recog- 
nized by the world, and the result is already 
felt in the tremendous impetus which is be- 
ing given to investment and enterprise here. 

Direct evidence of the new spirit which 
is moving in Oakland is found in the large 
civic undertakings in which the city is en- 
gaged, especially the expenditure of $2,500,- 
000 on the construction of a quay wall along 
its inner harbor, to be equipped with mod- 
ern warehouses, electric cranes and a belt 
railway, for the transference of freight at 
the greatest economy of time and effort; in 
the elaboration of terminal projects on the 
east bay shore, embracing in the reclama- 
tion more than four hundred acres of sub- 
merged lands, which are to be made avail- 
able under municipal control for factory and 
warehouse sites, with the command of 
water and rail transportation; in the erec- 
tion of a new city hall, to cost a million and 
a half dollars; in the extension and elabora- 



tion of a system of parks, boulevards and 
public play grounds; in the equipment of a 
municipal museum; in the installation of a 
direct pressure auxiliary salt water system 
for fire protection and the erection of a 
new building to house its police and fire 
alarm telegraph system. 

Supplemental to these, the city is plan- 
ning a bond issue of approximately $3,000,- 
000 for the extension of its educational 
facilities in the erection of a model poly- 
technic institution, and also for the build- 
ing of a municipal auditorium and conven- 
tion hall. 

Private and corporate enterprise is keep- 
ing pace with municipal progress in the 
elaboration of the railroad terminal and 
local traction interests. Judge Lovett, 
president of the Southern Pacific, recently 
announced that his company had given evi- 
dence of its faith in Oakland by appropria- 
tions amounting to $10,000,000 for the 
electrifying of local lines and other im- 
provements. That corporation is also about 
to erect a modern depot building at Six- 
teenth Street Station for the accommoda- 
tion of through trains and local traffic, to 
cost $300,000. 

The Western Pacific and the Santa Fe 
Company are elaborating their local ter- 
minal facilities; the United Properties Com- 
pany, incorporated for $200,000,000, is put- 
ting up an office building to house its ac- 
tivities here which will represent an invest- 
ment of $1,250,000. The new "Oakland" 
Hotel, in the course of construction, will 
represent an investment of $1,500,000; con- 
tracts have been let for the new depart- 
ment store of the H. C. Capwell Company, 
which is to cost $400,000; preparations are 
being made for the erection of the new Se- 
curity Bank Building, to cost $350,000; the 
new Perry Building will represent an in- 
vestment of $100,000; the sale of the sites 
of the First Presbyterian Church and the 
First Methodist Church insure the removal 
of these edifices and the erection of modern 
business structures in their places, and also 
the construction of new church buildings 
to take the place of those to be demolished; 
negotiations lately concluded insure the 
early completion of the Claremont Hotel, 
which will involve an investment of over a 
million dollars. Specifications have been 



14 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




The City of Oaklai 



15 




]6 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



submitted for the new Wilson Block on 
Fourteenth Street, between Washington and 
Clay, to cost $500,000, and many other im- 
portant improvements. 

There is not only exceptional activity in 
the erection of business blocks in Oakland, 
but plans have been drawn for many mod- 
ern apartment houses and family hotels in 
anticipation of the vast influx of visitors 
expected incidental to the Panama-Pacific 
Exposition in 1915, in the benefits of which 
Oakland will largely participate. 

In the matter of re^sidence construction 
Oakland continues to make tremendous 
strides, the pre-eminence of this city as a 
place of residence being generally conceded. 
Not only is there a great advance in the 
matter of the more moderate type of resi- 
dence structures and the convenient cot- 
tage and bungalow, but magnificent man- 
sions involving expenditures of $100,000 or 
more are crowning the sightly eminences 
along the foothills from Berkeley to Hay- 
ward. 

The extent of Oakland's expansion is not 
tf) be measured by municipal metes and 
boundaries, because this city embraces with 
its environs a quarter of a million people, 
contained in a community extending from 
Richmond on the north to Hayward on the 
south. Within this area are ten adminis- 
trative districts or local municipalities, 
which have so grown together that they 
are one in the civic, commercial and indus- 
trial interests which center in Oakland, with 
which all of these communities are con- 
nected by local train and electric car service. 

Oakland is further reinforced in its com- 
manding position by the fact that it is the 
county seat of Alameda County, which is a 
rich domain in itself, containing an area of 
eight hundred and forty square miles, with 



a climate and soil adapted to the perfect 
growth of a wide variety of fruits, grains, 
flowers, vegetables, trees, tropical and semi- 
tropical. The arable area of Alameda County 
is fast being intensively developed through 
the raising of small fruits, nuts, garden 
truck and grapes, the growing of hops, 
sugar beets and the production of poultry. 

The producer in Alameda County enjoys 
the advantage of proximity to the greatest 
mass of urban population on the Pacific 
Slope, with unsurpassed transportation 
facilities. With its important back country 
and the tributary territory of the great San 
Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys, Oakland 
is buttressed by resources that are practi- 
cally inexhaustible, and with the growth of 
population and the increase in productivity, 
resulting from the extension of irrigation 
and the subdivision of large land holdings, 
Oakland is certain to become the city from 
which will be drawn the supplies of the 
largest body of consumers on the Pacific 
Coast. All that is necessary is for her citi- 
zens to lay hold upon the possibilities of 
the present and the potentialities of the 
future. 

Oakland, as well as the entire Pacific 
Coast, is entering upon an era of expansion 
and development, the magnitude of which 
has not yet entered into the mind of man. 

Truly has it been written by Morrison 
Pixley, poet of the Pacific: 

"Builders by the western sea 
Where the golden rivers run, 
Scarcely has your work begun, 

Greater still your tasks shall be! 

Here at end of all the world 
Lies the goal of empire's course; 
Here, centripetal the force 

'Round which nations shall be whirled." 




Eight Miles of Docks 



17 



Oakland's Docks Covering Eight Miles 

Harbor Contains 27 Miles of Waterfront Tapped by Four 
Transcontinental Lines and Dotted with Factories 

^y T)aniel H. ^radley 




HEX the present plans of the 
city administration and the 
railroad companies holding 
franchises permitting them 
to construct and operate 
wharves upon the Oakland waterfront are 
carried out there will be in actual use for 
commercial purposes approximately eight 
miles of wharves. This will all be exclusive 
of the Alameda shore of the estuary of San 
Antonio and will be confined entirely to 
that portion of the inner harbor on the 
north side of the estuary and the portion 
of the west waterfront between the mouth 
of the estuary and the Key Route mole. 

The amount of effective wharf line indi- 
cated by the figures above can be appre- 
ciated when as a comparison it is pointed 
out that the total waterfront on the west 
side of the bay which has been improved 
by San Francisco amounts to four and one- 
half miles. In other words, there will with- 
in the next three years be improved and 
utilized for commercial purposes twice the 
length of waterfront on the Oakland inner 
and outer harbors than is now improved 
and utilized for commercial purposes by 
San Francisco. 

Plenty of Room for More Wharves. 

When this has been done Oakland has 
by no means exhausted her available room 
for building wharves, warehouses, belt rail- 
road lines and facilities and appliances for 
handling freight to and from ocean and 
river craft. 

The south shore of the estuary next to 
Alameda will still remain to be counted in, 
and the .\lameda bay shore, the shore north 
of the Key Route pier, and the San Leandro 
bay shore will still remain to be utilized as 
the increasing commerce demands. 



While it will probably be manj- years be- 
fore all of the twenty-six miles of available 
waterfront on the bay and estuary within 
the limits of the city of Oakland will need 
to be utilized, when that time does come, 
Oakland will be equipped with more miles 
of usable wharves than any city on the con- 
tinent, with the exception of New York. 

The people of today are, however, more 
interested in the matter of what portion 
of the Oakland harbor is to be made avail- 
able for commercial use before the opening 
of the Panama Canal than with the possibil- 
ities of the next twenty years' development. 
In other words, the waterfront that is of in- 
terest now is that portion that is to handle 
the goods and wares of the men who are 
now in business. 

A brief study of the map will aid the 
reader to get a clear understanding of the 
work being done on the harbor. 

Inner Harbor and Waterfront. 

The Oakland harbor is divided by the 
government engineers for the purposes of 
description into the inner harbor and west 
waterfront. 

The inner harbor of Oakland consists of 
the estuary of San Antonio, extending from 
the tidal canal to the Bay of San Francisco. 
The terminal wharves of the Alameda 
branch of the Southern Pacific and Western 
Pacific mark the mouth of the estuary. 

The estuary from the mouth to the Brook- 
lyn basin is approximately four miles long, 
and the channel dredged around the Brook- 
lyn basin adds two miles more to the north 
shore line of this inner harbor. 

From the mouth of the estuary to Oak 
Street, three thousand feet west of Brook- 
lyn basin, the government surveys provide 
for a depth of twenty-five feet between 



18 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Eight Miles of Docks 



19 



bulkhead lines, with a width of channel 800 
feet. From Oak Street to the basin the 
depth of the channel is seventeen feet and 
surveys for twenty-five foot depth have 
been approved. The channel around the 
outer edge of the Brooklyn basin is dredged 
to seventeen feet. 

Forty of Largest Industrial Plants. 

Along this estuary are grouped more than 
forty of the largest industrial plants of the 
Pacific Coast region. Among these the 
shipyards of the Moore & Scott Company, 
the Southern Pacilic and the United Engin- 



portion of the north side of the estuary. 

The waters of the inner harbor of Oak- 
land are always quiet, even in the time of 
storms that fret the outer bay. 

Terminals of Five Railroads. 

The west front harbor of Oakland con- 
sists of the bay shore from the mouth of the 
estuary to and including the Key Route 
mole. Along this west waterfront are lo- 
cated the deep water terminals of the five 
transcontinental railroad lines that reach 
this part of the Coast. 

Preparations are being made to develop 




North from Alameda Mole, California 



eering Works are equipped with docks for 
handling the largest sized vessels. 

The investment of the industries in per- 
manent improvements along the estuary is 
estimated at more than $15,000,000. 

The tonnage handled, exclusive of the 
ferry business, on the estuary amounts to 
more than a million and a half tons per 
annum. 

Extensive wharves have been constructed 
along this inner harbor, though no more 
than a small fraction of the capacity has 
been utilized. The city of Oakland has let 
contracts for the construction of 2900 lineal 
feet of quay wall wharves along the central 



the whole of the west waterfront and plans 
for the expenditure of several million dollars 
have been perfected. 

It is difficult to segregate the traffic 
handled over the Oakland wharves from 
that credited to San Francisco, as the Cus- 
tom House on the east bay shore is a 
branch of the main office. Figures col- 
lected, however, show that in addition to 
the estuary traffic which has been referred 
to, there was passed over one wharf on the 
west front, the Long wharf, during the 
twenty-four months ending June 30, 1910, 
imported merchandise to the amount of 
115,674 tons. 



20 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Eight Miles of Docks 



21 



Oakland enjoj-s the unique distinction 
among Pacific Coast ports of having the 
control, ownership and regulation of its 
waterfront and vvharv^es in the hands of the 
local municipal government. Where the 
ordinary rule among Pacific Coast ports is 
to have the harhor commissioners appoint- 
ed by and responsible to the State execu- 
tive, in Oakland the State authorities have 
absolutely no control over or word in the 
management of the waterfront. 



The north shore of the estuary; the west 
waterfront between the estuary mouth and 
tile Key Route basin; all the shore of the 
Key Route basin between the Oakland mole 
and the Key Route pier comprises that por- 
tion of the Oakland waterfront on both 
inner and outer harbor that is to be at once 
developed. A statement has been made by 
no less an authority than the Commissioner 
of Corporations in his report to the Sec- 
retarj- of Commerce and Labor, "that the 




Wharve.s and -Nhippiii 

Advantages of Local Control. 

One advantage of this local control is 
readily seen. The business of waterfront 
management, tlie regulation oi dockage fees 
and the allotment of locations on the water- 
front' as well as the expenditures for perma- 
nent improvement, are at Oakland in tlie 
hands of men who are direct'y interested in 
the building up of Oakland business. As 
cit}' officials the members of the Oakland 
Harbor Board are directly responsible to 
the business men whose interests they must 
look after or be called to account. 



g- at Oakland. California 

three transcontinental roads will have vir- 
tual control of all the practical waterfront 
except that owned by individuals." This 
statement so deliberately made in an official 
document prepared by a government official 
is challenged by the Mayor and City En- 
gineer of Oakland. In support of their 
cliallenge of the correctness of Commis- 
sioner Smith's statement the Oakland city 
officials submit the figures showing the 
ovnership along the whole of the water- 
f?-ont on both inner and outer harbor. 



22 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Eight ]\Iile.s of Docks 



23 



40,890 Feet Bulkhead Line. 

Commencing at the tidal canal, which 
connects the estuary with San Leandro 
Bay, running along the north shore of 
the estuary, thence along the West Oak- 
land waterfront to the Key Route pier, the 
l)ulkhead line measured approximately 40,- 
800 feet, or a little more than eight miles. 
Of this the city of Oakland owns and con- 
trols 20,730 feet, or about four miles, and 
the right to ownership of the abutting tide 
lands is in question along 8000 feet, or a 
little more than a mile and a half. This dis- 
puted territory is that including the so- 
called Stratton grant which the legal rep- 
resentatives of the city have held to be null 
and void so far as conveying title to the 
claimants is concerned. This leaves two 
and one-half miles of the total eight miles 
in the possession and control of railroads 
and private persons. 

The detail of the ownership and control 
of the waterfront can be shown as follows: 

Controlled by Corporations. 

Along the estuary the Southern Pacific 
controls 1400 feet; Western Pacific, 2400 
feet; Moore & Scott shipyards, 700 feet; 
the Howard Company, 450 feet; Hogan 
Lumber Company, 300 feet; Sunset Lumber 
Company, 200 feet; City of Oakland, 13,650 
feet, and the 8000 feet above referred to as 
being in dispute is also located on the upper 
estuary. 

The control on the west waterfront be- 
tween the mouth of the estuary and the 
Key Route basin is: 

Southern Pacific, 2000 feet; Western Pa- 
cific, 1300 feet; City of Oakland, 1080 feet. 

On the Key Route basin the San Fran- 
cisco, Oakland & San Jose Railroad (the 
Key Route) has wharfing outright to 1000 
feet frontage, and the City of Oakland re- 
tains the wharfing outright to 7000 feet of 
frontage. 

These figures would seem to sustain the 
claim of the Oakland municipal government 
that a fair representation of the situation 
has not been given by the Commissioner 
of Corporations. 

Work of Development Started. 

The work of development that is now in 
progress, for which money has been appro- 



priated, and in consideration of which 
franchises have been granted by the city 
of Oakland and permits and concessions 
have been made by the federal harbor con- 
trol authorities, can be briefly shown with 
the aid of the harbor map. 

The city of Oakland is engaged in con- 
structing along the estuary between Linden 
Street and Webster, 2900 feet of quay wall 
behind which solid fill is to be made, ware- 
houses erected, streets opened, the belt line 
railroad and switching tracks constructed, 
so as to give communication between the 
wharves and the business streets as well as 
between the wharves and the transconti- 
nental railroad lines. 

On this municipal wharf there will be 
provided electric cranes and the most mod- 
ern devices for handling freight to and from 
the holds of ships. 

The city is also constructing a municipal 
wharf along the upper estuary which will 
have the same facilities of communication 
with road lines. For the completion of all 
of this municipal work on the estuary funds 
have been provided and contracts let for a 
large portion of the construction work. 

Largest Undertaking on Coast. 

On the Key Route basin, while the work 
to be done by the city will not make appar- 
ent its importance at once, it will ultimately 
prove to be the largest undertaking in har- 
bor development on the whole Pacific Coast 
of the United States. 

By reference to a map it will be seen 
that the Key Route pier leaving the shore 
line at Fortieth Street runs seaward at an 
angle so that if continued it would inter- 
sect the extended line of the Southern Pa- 
cific's long wharf. The Key Route basin is 
the designation of the harbor lying between 
these two piers. 

By recent order of the War Department 
the bulkhead line has been established 2000 
feet further seaward than the position desig- 
nated by former surveys, and the city has 
been given the right to fill in the added 
2000 feet behind the bulkhead constructed 
on the new line. 

The extension of the bulkhead line farther 
seaward has diminished the length of the 
possible wharf line between the Oakland 
mole and the Key Route pier, for the rea- 



24 



Greater Oaklanmi, Kill 




Eight Miles of Docks 



25 



son that these two piers incline towards 
each other. The length of the new bulkhead 
line is approximately oOOO feet between the 
Southern Pacific franchise grant, the Oak- 
land mole and the Kej- Route grant, includ- 
ing the present Key Route pier. 

Will Have New Lights to Wharfing-Out. 

When this new bulkhead is constructed 
the city will have the right to wharf out in 
a northerly direction from a newly con- 
structed mole immediately north of the 
present Oakland mole of the Southern Pa- 
cific, and the length of this section of the 
wharf line will be approximately 2000 feet. 
There is in hand and available for this pur- 
pose sufficient money to construct the new 
bulkhead and make the dredging and filling 
necessary. The City Engineer has been in- 
structed by the Municipal Board of Harbor 
Commissioners to at once proceed with the 
work on the Kej^ Route basin in accordance 
with plans which have been heretofore ap- 
proved. 

It is not the plan of the city government 
to at once completely develop the wharfing 
facilities along the line of the bulkhead ex- 
tending from the Oakland mole to the Key 
Route pier, the 5000-foot section. It is the 
intention, however, of the municipal author- 
ities to at once make available for commer- 
cial use the wharf along the 2000-foot sec- 
tion which runs parallel to the Oakland mole 
and fronts northward on the Key Route 
basin. For this purpose a quay wall will 
be built, a channel and fairway dredged in 
front of the wall, solid filling be made be- 
hind the wall connecting it and making it 
a part of the fill of the Oakland mole. 

Wide Street Open for Car Tracks. 

To give access to this new wharf the city 
has open and available for car tracks, team- 
way and passageway for pedestrians, a wide 
street crossing all railroad tracks and con- 
necting with the business section of the 
city. It is the intention to construct on this 
2000-foot section of the Key Route water- 
front warehouses, freight sheds and the 
same modern up-to-date loading devices 
that are planned for the municipal wharves 
on the estuary. 

The addition of 2000 feet of wharves on 
the deep water of the outer bay in the pro- 



tected Key Route basin will give to Oak- 
land harbor an equipment for handling 
freight to and from ocean liners, coastwise, 
river and bay craft, that of itself will enable 
this port to compete with the best equipped 
Pacific Coast ports, and yet this 2000 feet 
front is but a small part of the municipal 
dock system on the Oakland harbor. 

Improved Facilities for Unloading. 

Great importance is being given by the 
city authorities to the improved facilities 
for loading and unloading cargoes. An illus- 
tration of this was given by a representative 
of one of the Pacific Coast ports recently 
when he pointed out that a certain city had 
a scale of dock charges of less than 20 per 
cent of those charges at rival ports, but by 
reason of the antiquated method of handling 
freight the charge of the low dock charges 
was more than overcome, and a ship can 
really pass its merchandise through the port 
where the dock charges are four and five 
times as much and save money by the trans- 
action. 

In addition to the immediate improvement 
work by the Oakland municipal authorities 
on waterfront, under the franchises recently 
granted to the Western Pacific, Southern 
Pacific and Key Route Railroad Companies, 
these corporations are pledged to make ex- 
tensive improvements within the limits of 
their several grants. The Key Route will, 
as soon as the municipal authorities con- 
struct the bulkhead and fill in behind it on 
the Key Route basin, fill in their own pier 
and construct slips and docks fronting from 
there on to the Key Route basin. 

Key Route Frontage 1000 Feet. 

This grant of the Kej^ Route covers 1000 
feet frontage on the wharfing-out line. The 
Southern Pacific on the other side of the 
Key Route basin is obligated to cut back 
the long wharf to a point even with the 
outer end of the present Oakland mole, and 
to develop 300 feet immediately south of the 
present Oakland mole. 

The Western Pacific, under the terms of 
its franchise grant, must develop the whole 
of its 1300 feet on the west front. A large 
portion of this work has already been done, 
and it is being pushed as rapidly as the con- 
ditions will permit. 



26 



Greater Oakland, 1011 



L3'ing between the Western Pacific and 
the Southern Pacific franchise grant on the 
west waterfront remains 1080 feet still in 
the control of the city of Oakland. The 
city has an open street which will give com- 
munication between whatever wharves may 
be located on this portion of the waterfront 
and the business section of the city. No 
plans have been announced for the imme- 
diate development of this particular portion 
of the waterfront. 

Under the decision of the court the city 
of Oakland possessed primarily the sole 
right to wharf out from the low tide along 
the whole of the waterfront. The occupa- 
tion of any portion of this waterfront and 
the exercise of wharfing-out privileges by 
any of the corporations or firms named in 
this description is by right of the grant 
from the city. 

The franchise grants to the railroads have 
been made for a term of fifty years and on 
the payment of an annual rental. 

The policy of the municipal government 
since the recognition of the grant to the 
right of the city to control its waterfront 
has been to ofifer proper and reasonable en- 
couragement to the location of terminals 
of the transcontinental or interstate rail- 
roads on the Oakland waterfront. At the 
same time the declared policy of the city 
government has been to not give to any 
single railroad or public combination of rail- 
road companies such concessions as would 
enable them to monopolize the shipping 
facilities of the Oakland waterfront. The 
announced policy of the municipal govern- 
ment has been to develop and retain under 
municipal control and ownership a sufficient 
wharfage to insure free access thereto of 
all freight carriers that may desire to avail 
themselves of the privilege. In carrying out 
this policy it is the intention of the munici- 
pal government to fix their scale of dock 
and storage charges that will invite com- 
merce to this port, and at the same time 
act as a regulating influence on the wharves 
and docks which are occupied by corpora- 
tion tenants under long lease. 

In addition to the occupants of the water- 



front, corporate and private, we have al- 
ready mentioned, the following are located 
on the estuary or inner harbor: 

Works, Overland Lumber Co.. Hunt, 
Hatch & Co., Moore & Scott Co., Alaska 
Packers" Assn., John L. Howard, Oakland 
Gas, Light & Heat Co., Pacific Coast Lum- 
ber & Mill Co., Remillard Brick Co., Jas. 
P. Taylor Coal Co., Hogan Lumber Co., 
Pacific Fuel Co., Adams Wharves & Docks, 
Sunset Lumber Co., United Engineering 
Works, Oakland Harbor Development Co., 
Atlas Gas Engine Co., Great Western Pow- 
er Co., Larue Wharf & Dock Co.. Hunter 
Lumber Co., J. C. Kimball, Hodge & Col- 
lins Lumber Co., Pacific Steel & Wire Co., 
California Cotton Mills Co., Standard Gas 
Engine Co., E. W. Wood Lumber Co., 
Union Gas Engine Co., Rhodes & Jamison 
Co., Worden-Meeker Co., San Francisco 
Bridge Co., Taylor & Co.. Geo. E. Dow 
Pumping Co.. Capt. E. V. Rideout, Califor- 
nia Transportation Co., Oakland Transpor- 
tation Co., Pacific States Refineries. 

A survey of the Oakland harbor and a 
careful observation of the manner in which 
private firms, corporations and municipality 
have been located on the waterfront and 
have wharfing privileges, will show the mag- 
nitude of the development work which is 
now in hand. A cursory glance will show 
to the observer that the claim that here is 
to be the best equipped port on the Pacific 
Coast by the time the Panama Canal is 
opened is no idle claim, but is abundantly 
supported by the facts. 

When it is taken into consideration that 
the development and improvement of the 
Oakland harbor, which will certainly be 
complete during the next three years, is 
only a beginning, the large claim that a few- 
decades at most will see here more miles of 
usable wharves fit for modern commercial 
purposes than in any other port in the 
United States, with the possible exception 
of New York, is not an idle one. but one 
which the children of the present generation 
may well expect to see made good. 

From Oakland Tribune 



Modern Street Work 



27 



Oakland's Streets 

300 Miles to Provide For and Improvements Under Way Are 
Permanent Ones to Meet Needs of Advancements 

^y Walter C. Hoioe, Superintendent of Streets 




HE activity throughout the 
city of Oakland during the 
past year in the construction 
of permanent pavements, 
macadam streets, storm sew- 
ers, sanitary sewers and sidewalks has been 
most noticeable. A remarkable amount of 
street paving work has been accomplished, 
and the results throughout the business 
section of the city and upon the main ar- 
teries leading north and west, have been the 
subject of much favorable comment on the 
part of the general public. The growth of 
this class of construction work has been 
remarkable during the past six years. The 
increased mileage in permanent pavements, 
such as asphalt, basalt block, brick, etc.. 
during the year 1910 is 250 per cent greater 
than the year 1909. and 500 per cent greater 
than the year 1904, at which time the per- 
manent pavement era first received its im- 
petus. Twenty years ago the city of Oak- 
land was paved principally with macadam 
streets. 

Macadam Used for Years. 

These streets answered well the purpose 
for which they were built at that time, as 
traffic conditions were light, and the streets 
capable of carrying loads to which they were 
subjected. This era has long since passed 
in certain portions of the city, and in con- 
sequence the old macadam pavements had 
to be replaced. It was a difficult matter at 
first for the Board of Public Works, the 
City Council and the street department to 
educate the people up to the value of per- 
manent pavements. Most of the earlier 
work of this class proposed by the City 
Council was. without exception, protested 
out by the property owners. Macadam 
streets had been used for so many years 



that in nearly every instance the property 
owners were a unit in asking the City 
Council to simply redress or remacadam- 
ize these streets again. The city officials, 
however, found it absolutely necessary to 
take a stand and insist upon the laying of 
permanent pavements designed upon good 
engineering principles and laid under com- 
petent supervision and inspection. Some of 
the earlier permanent pavements, which 
were of bituminous sand rock obtained 
from the southern counties, proved to be of 
little more worth than the original macadam 
streets. These conditions were gradually 
eliminated by experience, until at the pres- 
ent time the city of Oakland is laying the 
most modern class of pavement under spec- 
ifications and regulations similar to those 
adopted by the engineering departments of 
the largest cities in the United States. There 
is no doubt that the permanent pavement 
era has reached Oakland, and that the years 
to come will show a rapid increase in this 
class of pavement. Failures in asphalt pave- 
ments must be looked for from time to 
time; that has been and is still the experi- 
ence of many of our eastern cities, even 
where the most rigid chemical analysis of 
materials has been made, and the most 
searching inspection. Experience, however, 
will tend to gradually eliminate failures in 
this class of work, until it can be expected 
that in nearly every case of a permanently 
paved street, the pavement will be one that 
will have a known length of life. 

Property Owners Aid the Work. 

It has been a source of great satisfaction 
to the administration that the opposition 
heretofore made by property owners to 
paving the streets with permanent pave- 
ments is being gradually overcome. The 



28 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



clean, smooth, elegant appearance of an 
asphalt, vitrified brick or basalt block street 
is such a contrast with the old macadam 
roadways covered with dust in the summer, 
and filled with chuck holes, ruts and mud 
in the winter, that property owners are be- 
ing convinced of the value of the perma- 
nent pavement, both from an esthetic stand- 
point and from the standpoint of increased 
property values due to the general upbuild- 
ing of the street paved. 

It is a very noticeable fact upon streets 
where building operations have been at a 
standstill for a number of years, that as 
soon as the street is paved with a high class 
pavement, new buildings have been erected, 
and a gradual new growth has sprung up in 
the building line. Two years ago Piedmont 
Avenue, Broadway, East Fourteenth, Mar- 
ket, Webster, Harrison, lower Clay Street, 
Nineteenth Street and many other streets 
were a continual sea of mud during the 
winter months and a source of much com- 
plaint from the general public. These 
streets today are splendidly paved and the 
improvement is so noticeable that it will 
have a salutary efifect upon continued im- 
provements of this character. 

During the year 1910, a number of prom- 
inent streets, such as Harrison, Alice, Nine- 
teenth and others, were paved by the prop- 
erty owners, who advertised for bids under 
private contracts. This work was done vol- 
untarily on the part of the property owners. 
A movement of this kind, which has been 
heretofore absolutely unknown throughout 
the city of Oakland, proves that taxpayers 
are slowly but surely being educated by the 
city to the value of good pavements upon 
their streets. 

Classes of Pavement Laid. 

Oil Macadam — It has been the custom in 
years past for the city of Oakland to install 
plain macadam on residence streets. This 
class of paving has now been abolished by 
the City Council in favor of oil macadam. 
In districts of the city where property is 
of low valuation, the work is more in the 
nature of a surface oiled street than a pure 
oil macadam roadway. The Council's action 
has been a wise one, as in either case the 
oiled surface street is much the superior of 
the plain macadam. 



During the year 1910, four miles of oil 
macadam streets were laid, throughout the 
city of Oakland. Experience with the oil 
macadam street thus far has proven it to 
be clean and dry during the winter months 
and free from the objectionable dust nui- 
sance of the plain macadam in the summer 
months. The increased cost over the plain 
macadam is very small, and the elimination 
of dust alone more than compensates for the 
additonal outlay. 

Basalt Block — The first grouted basalt 
block pavement ever laid in the city of Oak- 
land upon a concrete foundation was in- 
stalled on Second Street between Broadway 
and Washington Street, last year. This 
pavement was laid upon six inches of hy- 
draulic concrete with a two-inch sand cush- 
ion. The basalt blocks were carefully se- 
lected and thoroughly grouted with a one- 
to-one grout filler. Expansion joints of 
bituminous material were laid at intervals 
of fifty feet. This work is probably the best 
piece of pavement in the city of Oakland 
today. It is subjected to continual heavy 
loads and is fully capable of carrying all 
the traffic brought upon it. It is doubtful 
whether repairs will be required on .this 
street for many years. The cost of the 
basalt block pavement, however, is practi- 
cally double that of asphalt, and for this 
reason it is a very difficult pavement to lay 
where property owners are compelled to 
foot the bills. Doubtless in the years to 
come the lower portion of the city will have 
to be paved with basalt block or vitrified 
brick, but most of this work will no doubt 
be done at the expense of the city upon 
accepted streets. 

Experimenting With Vitrified Brick. 

Vitrified Brick — Two blocks of vitrified 
brick pavement have been laid on Second 
Street, from Broadway to Webster Street, 
during the past year. As it was impossible 
to secure a suitable brick produced by 
brick manufacturers in the State of Califor- 
nia, the brick used were brought from Seat- 
tle. These brick were laid upon a six-inch 
hydraulic concrete foundation and sand 
cushion; were thoroughly grouted with a 
one-to-one filler, and expansion of joints 
installed parallel to the curb line and also 
at right angles at regular intervals. Streets 



Modern Street Work 29 

built of this same class of brick have given The bituminous material is the binding ma- 

excellent service in the city of Seattle with terial which holds the pavement together, 

but very slight maintenance cost. The cost A mixture that is sloppy or overloaded in 

of the brick pavement averages 25 to 30 bitumen invariably fails through humps and 

per cent higher than asphalt. The compari- waves on the surface; one that contains too 

son between the wear on these two blocks little is apt to disintegrate under the action 

of brick roadway, also upon the basalt block of moisture and traffic. A testing labora- 

street adjoining, will be noted with interest, tory is the only means of controlling this 

and comparisons made with the new asphalt condition. The asphaltic cement used is a 

streets contiguous. It is the intention of very important factor in the success of the 

the street department to keep accurate ac- pavement and penetration and chemical tests 

count of the maintenance costs upon these are absolutely necessary in every instance, 

streets for future reference. During the year, the testing laboratory com- 

Asphalt-Macadam — About a mile of pleted the following tests: 
asphalt-macadam pavement put down upon 

a thoroughly rolled subgrade, has been in- Results of Many Tests Made. 

stalled on Fourth Avenue during the past Cement Tests — Number of. 

year. This pavement is built in two layers Specific gravity, tensile strength, 

approximating about seven inches in total constancy of volume, fineness 620 

thickness. The lower course is very simi- Sand Tests — 

lar to the binder course used on the stand- Granularmetric 12 

ard asphalt streets; the upper course is com- Per cent of voids .5 

posed of a finer aggregate giving a much Weight per cubic foot 6 

denser mixture. The completed street Specific gravity 5 

shows a very clean, uniform appearance. Tensile strength 26 

Although Fourth Avenue is not subjected Asphalt Tests (Surface Mixtures) — 

to the heavy traffic conditions that a great Mineral aggregate 119 

many of our permanently paved streets re- Extraction of bitumen 124 

ceive, nevertheless, a good general idea of Penetration (Dow) 208 

the worth of asphalt-macadam in a moist Chemical analysis asphaltic cement 15 

climate like Oakland will be secured through Binder Mixtures — 

experience with this piece of work as the Aggregate 56 

3'ears pass. Extraction bitumen 43 

r„ . ^ , _, , , Bituminous Mixtures — 

Testing Laboratory Enlarged. r- i ^ i. 

^ J & General tests 25 

During the year just passed, the testing Vitrified Brick Tests- 
laboratory of the street department has Rattler 43 

been enlarged, and considerable new appa- Absorption 43 

ratus installed. The value of this testing Macadam Rock Tests- 
laboratory is becoming more and more ap- Abrasion 87 

parent. Eastern cities have found from ' 

experience that the maintenance of a testing Total 1437 

laboratory very often means the success or I" addition, a large number of analyses 

failure of the pavement laid. In an asphalt were made of the old bitumen pavements 

pavement, the mineral aggregate must be 'aid in the city of Oakland in order to 

so graded as to contain a certain percentage determine their cause of failure. These 

of very fine material passing a sieve con- tests of themselves will be of great benefit 

taining 200 meshes to the inch. The aggre- to the street department in its future work, 

gate is graded through sieves running from and a special report is now being compiled 

200 to 10 meshes to the inch, the finer ma- from the data thus taken, 

terial filling up the voids between the larger Hassam Pavement a Novelty. 
and coarser particles. Upon this mineral 

aggregate depends the amount of pure bitu- Hassam Pavement — A stretch of Hassam 

men which the paving mixture will carry. pavement which is a new departure for the 



30 



Grkatkk Oakland, 1911 



citj' of Oakland, is being laid on the north 
side of the Twelfth Street dam, running 
from Fallon Street to Lake Shore Boule- 
vard. This pavement, which is nothing 
more or less than a dense concrete with 
voids completely filled with small pea stone 
and cement grout, the whole being thor- 
oughlj' rolled with heavy steam rollers, has 
given good satisfaction in a number of 
Northern and Eastern cities. No harder 
conditions for laying a pavement of this 
class could be found. The Twelfth Street 
dam has been settling for a number of 
years, and any class of pavement that may 
be laid upon it is liable to settlement cracks. 
The city's experience with this pavement 
will be watched with interest. 

Work of Street Sweeping. 

Three methods of sweeping asphalt and 
other permanent pavements are now in 
vogue in the city of Oakland, namely: hand 
sweeping throughout the retail business sec- 
tion; rotary broom (machine) sweeping in 
the outlying districts, and sanitary (suction) 
machine sweeping in the semi-business and 
residence sections. All of these methods 
have given more or less satisfaction. The 
question of cost, however, is a great factor, 
and enters largely into the equation. Hand 
sweeping in the business district has proven 
to be almost as economical as machine 
sweeping, and much more satisfactory, for 
the reason that the hand sweepers work 
during the entire da3^ making large quan- 
tities of pickups, whereas the machine 
sweeper simply sweeps the street at night. 
This necessitates the employment of a cer- 
tain number of hand sweepers in addition 
to the machine. 

The following figures are the actual cost 
of sweeping by hand and by machine: 

Rotary broom $ 8.20 per mile 

Sanitary suction sweeper.... 11.50 per mile 
Hand sweeping 10.16 per mile 

In the Street Cleaning Department. 

During the year, some 333 miles of gut- 
ters and roadways were thoroughly cleaned 
by the regular crews employed by the de- 
partment. In a territory containing nearly 
500 miles of streets, it is, of course, impos- 
sible to clean every street in the city dur- 
ing the year with a crew of fifty men, the 
amount of labor allowed by the City Coun- 



cil. A great many streets when cleaned 
only once a year remain in fairly good con- 
dition until the winter rains; others must be 
cleaned much more often in order to remain 
in any kind of a sanitary condition. 

The following figures show the amount 
of money expended in street cleaning on 
macadam streets, also the number of loads 
of material taken away: 

Number of blocks cleaned 5,860 

Number of loads of material taken 

away 32,880 

Amount expended $46,572 

Work of Patching the Streets. 

Macadam streets throughout the city have 
received considerable attention from the 
street department during the year. The 
streets in the lower portion of the city be- 
low Seventh Street, which are a source of 
much expense and practically beyond repair, 
are continually patched. It is a waste of 
money, but must be tolerated until such 
time as the citj^ can induce the property 
owners to pave the roadways with perma- 
nent pavements. 

All of the outside residence sections have 
received attention from the street depart- 
ment in the way of patching during the year. 
The department has expended $17,000 for 
rock during the year, and has in addition 
used the entire output of the city's quarry 
upon the macadamized streets of the city. 
This is exclusive of the annexed district. 

Oiling Oil Macadamized Streets. 

The street department has recently ac- 
quired a complete road-oiling outfit, con- 
sisting of two tank wagons, one steam 
pump and vertical boiler mounted on trucks, 
and two special Glover oilers. The appa- 
ratus was received very late in the season 
of 1910, but, nevertheless, some seventeen 
miles of streets, including annexed terri- 
tory, were treated to coats of surface oil and 
screenings. The oiling has proven very 
successful and is to be resumed upon a 
much larger and more elaborate scale in 
1911. 

Both fresh and salt water is used by the 
street department to abate the dust nuisance. 
The city now owns some forty sprinkling 
carts of modern and up-to-date make and 
equipment. In addition, about twenty-five 
outside carts are hired each year from in- 



Modern Street Work 



31 



dividual owners. The city is well covered 
during the summer months, but a much 
larger equipment could be used to advantage 
if it were possible to secure funds for the 
purpose. 

From data compiled, the following synop- 
sis may be interesting: 

Number of sprinkling routes 60 

Number of miles covered by routes 
(asphalt and unimproved streets 

not sprinkled) 280 

Number of miles watered per year.. 56,000 

Cost per day for water $ 205 

Cost of labor and teams, per day.. . 3:25 

Total cost per day 530 

Total cost per year (200-day season) 106,000 
Cost per mile of street sprinkling. . . 1.90 

In the Annexed Territory. 

In December, 1909, the city of Oakland 
anne.xed some 36 square miles of territory. 
This territory contains 205 miles of streets, 
20 per cent of which are macadamized, 
curbed and guttered. An additional 30 per 
cent are improved with macadamized road- 
way's only, while the remainder are rough 
graded or totally unimproved. This in- 
crease in street mileage has added an addi- 
tional heavy burden upon the street de- 
partment, which has required considerable 
work of organization. Although but one 
year has elapsed since annexation took 
place, considerable street work has already 
been completed in this annexed territory, 
and much more is contemplated during the 
coming year. 

In conclusion it is interesting to note 
the comparison between the mileage of 
streets in the principal cities of the United 
States with the mileage of streets in the 
city of Oakland. Since annexation, Oak- 
land has materially increased its mileage 
of streets, and now has nearly as many 
•niles of roadway as many of the large 
)£astcrn cities of greater population. 

The following statistics are taken from 
the reports of the cities referred to, for the 
year ending 1909: 



Miles of 
Streets. 

Chicago ( 1) 2,976 

New York (all boroughs) ( 2) 2,019 

New York (Borough of Manhat- 
tan only) 459 

Boston (7) 514 

Seattle, Wash ( 5 ) 573 

Portland, Ore (jio) 352 

Los Angeles, Cal (6) 575 

Detroit ( 9) 372 

Bufifalo (4) 670 

^Minneapolis (11) 250 

San Jose (12) 109 

Oakland ( 8) 470 

San Francisco ( 3) 825 

Oakland's Good Mileage Shown. 

While Oakland is w^ell up the line in total 
mileage of streets, the following tabulation 
shows how far she must go to catch up 
with her sister cities in the way of perma- 
nent pavements; that is, asphalt, brick, 
stone and similar pavements. 

Miles of 
Permanent 
Pavement. 

Chicago ( 1) 1,042 

New York (Borough of Man- 
hattan only) (2) 435 

Boston (7) 127 

Bufifalo (4) 271 

Detroit (3) 356 

Seattle ( 9) 88.4 

Portland , (12) 60.5 

Tacoma (11) 64 

San Francisco ( 5) 252 

Los Angeles (10) 67 

Oakland (13) 15.5 

San Jose (14) 7 

Washington, D. C (6) 203.13 

Minneapolis ( 8) 111 

From the above figures it will be seen 
that an immense task confronts the munici- 
pality in the way of permanent street im- 
provement during the next ten years. 

From ' ' Tribune' ' 



32 



Greater Oaklanu, 1911 



Oakland's Public Museum on Par with Other Big Cities 

More Than 1 2,000 Specimens Already Classified Covering Natural History 

and Other Subjects of a Great Educational Value for the Instruction 

and Amusement of Young and Old 




HE opening of the Oakland 
Museum in October marked 
a new era in the history of 
this city. The museum is 
beautifully located on the 
shore of Lake Merritt, facing Oak Street, 
near the head of Fourteenth, very near the 
Thirteenth Street car line. It is a two-story 
frame building, standing in the midst of the 
lake shore parks, surrounded by giant trees 
with lawns sloping down to the lake, and 
beds of blooming flowers. 

This is one of the very few municipal 
museums in the United States, and as such 
it should be an object of interest to every 
citizen for everyone has a share in its own- 
ership and support. It is to be hoped that 
the people of Oakland will realize this and 
assist in making it a success and a source 
of pride in their municipalit3^ 

The work of establishing and maintaining 
a museum is a task whose magnitude is not 
usually recognized. Good institutions can- 
not depend on the purchase of private col- 
lections, but send experienced men into the 
field to select and secure exactly what they 
need to build up their various departments. 
Otherwise their collections M^ould be incom- 
plete, with many duplicates and many va- 
cancies. Again, when once collected exhib- 
its of organic material must be cared for 
constantly to prevent injury by insects, 
such as moths and weevils. 

Attraction Aim of Classification. 

Then the articles must be classified and 
arranged scientifically as well as attractive- 
ly. And the best institutions have the ex- 
hibits labeled in simple, descriptive lan- 
guage, so that visitors may not have the 
trouble of searching catalogues or gazing at 
objects about which they can find out noth- 



ing, however interesting these may appear. 
A museum in its best form has manj^ lines 
of usefulness, some of w-hich are: 

1. To act as a repository for curious and 
interesting objects. 

2. To serve as a source of research to 
students. 

3. To become a means of education to 
the youth of the vicinity. 

The Oakland Public Museum aims to ful- 
fill all of the above, but at present empha- 
sizes the last feature, inasmuch as that is a 
new and important departure in museum 
history. 

Shows Work of Two Men, 

The origin and building of the museum 
may be accredited to the efforts of Mayor 
Frank K. Mott, through whose instrumen- 
tality the first collections were purchased 
in 1907. Afterward he used his influence to 
rescue for Oakland certain collections of 
Indian objects, which had been made in 
California for an Eastern museum. Then 
he caused a collector to be sent into differ- 
ent fields to secure material for other de- 
partments. The city government voted 
funds for the maintenance of a public mu- 
seum, and in April. 1909, formally placed 
it under the management of the board of 
trustees of the Oakland Free Library. 

Mr. C. P. Wilcomb. formerly of the Gold- 
en Gate Park Museum, was called to as- 
sume the curatorship. It is to his skill as 
a collector and his knowledge of practical 
museum work, that Oakland owes the excel- 
lence of the exhibits and the orderly ar- 
rangement and careful attention to details 
that make their appearance so pleasing to 
visitors. 

The Board of Public Works set apart the 
Josiah Stanford mansion on the shore of 



The City Museum 



33 







^-v ^ 



34 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Lake Merritt, 1218 Oak Street, to be used as 
a museum until a more commodious build- 
ing can be provided. This has been remod- 
eled until it lends itself admirably for the 
purpose desired, although even now it is 
being rapidly outgrown by the collections, 
which are constantly increasing through the 
donations of friends and patrons. In seven 
weeks, since the opening, over forty indi- 
viduals and firms have contributed speci- 
mens to add to the exhibits. 

Fourteen Exhibition Rooms. 

There are at present fourteen exhibition 
rooms, warmed by steam radiators and bril- 
liantly lighted by over 400 lamps so dis- 
posed as to make it possible to see all arti- 
cles and read all labels as well in the even- 




ing as by day. In these rooms the exhibits 
are classified and arranged in attractive or- 
der. So displayed, they are interesting to 
the visitor who wishes diversion or recrea- 
tion, and useful to the student who may 
desire to make investigations along special 
lines of work. The prime object of the 
Oakland Public Museum is not at present 
the prosecution of research work, for the 
collections are not sufficiently extensive in 
a few departments. 

The total number of specimens belonging 
to the museum is about 12,000, classified 
under the following heads: 

1. Natural History, containing about 
5,600 articles, exhibited in three rooms on 
the second floor. The collection of local 



birds and eggs is particularly good; it is 
not all displayed for lack of space, but is 
available for students who desire to use it 
for scientific purposes. 

2,600 Subscriptions From This Continent. 

2. The Ethnology of North America is 
represented by about 2,600 specimens, in- 
cluding quite a complete collection of ma- 
terial from the Pacific Coast Indians, illus- 
trating their every-day life, arts, industries, 
war and ceremony, and is very instructive 
to anyone desiring to make a study of the 
aboriginal inhabitants of this section. 

3. Ethnological collections from Africa, 
Pacific Islands, Asia, Mexico and Central 
America aggregate over 700 specimens, 
showing strange and interesting phases of 
primitive culture. 

4. The department of General History 
contains nearly 1,200 specimens, including 
coins, medals, paper money, pictures and 
historical relics, and is one of the most pop- 
ular exhibits in the museum. 

5. Colonial America is represented by 
what is probably the best collection on the 
Western coast. This is displayed in five 
rooms, two of which are types of those 
found commonly in colonial homes. These 
are so attractive that visitors return to them 
again and again, and so instructive that they 
enforce many a lesson of the life and strug- 
gles of our forefathers who had the strength 
to found a nation. 

Reference books are found on reading 
tables in the various departments. These 
are provided for the visitors who desire to 
consult them for more extended information 
than can be embraced in the labeling. 

Visitors to the museum are generally sur- 
prised and delighted at the amount of ma- 
terial and the arrangement and attractive- 
ness of the exhibit, and pleased to find the 
greater part of the articles provided with 
descriptive labels setting forth the chief 
points of interest in relation to them. 

The attendance since the opening on Oc- 
tober 21, 1910, has been very gratifying, as 
showing the interest of the people of Oak- 
land in the new municipal possession. The 
self-registering turnstile showed that during 
the first seven weeks 12,237 visitors entered 
the building. The largest record for any 
one day was 1,220, on the afternoon of Sun- 
day, October 23. 



Thi City Museujj 



3S 



One new feature introduced in the Oak- 
land Museum is that of the docentry, which 
is being practiced in some of the leading 
institutions of the East. It is the courtesy 
of providing a guide to strangers who de- 
sire to be directed to points of interest 
rather than risk to wandering about aim- 




lessly or missing some of the most valuable 
exhibits. A specialty is made of thus direct- 
ing children, entertaining and instructing 
therr. 

Educational Feature One of the Best. 

It is the purpose and aim of the promoters 
and managers of the museum to make it a 
strong factor in the educational work of the 
city. To this end they have established a 
Children's Department, and inaugurated a 
system of lectures and talks daily, both 
formal and informal, under the manage- 
ment of Mrs. D. W. de Veer, a teacher of 
several years' experience. This is the first 
museum on the coast to make a specialty 
of such work, and while at present the 
methods are being only experimentally 
worked out, the results are already very 
gratifying. 

The children's room is sunny and pleas- 
ant, and the exhibits are attractively ar- 
ranged. They comprise such objects as are 
interesting and curious, and at the same 
time instructive. Some of the exquisite col- 
orings in Nature's work are shown in one 
case containing bright-hued birds, insects, 



fishes, minerals and shells. Strange and fa- 
miliar insects give their lessons of natural 
economy. Useful minerals are shown with 
articles made from them, and curious ones 
that teach of Nature's endless variety of re- 
source — the natural magnet, the stone that 
floats on water, iron that fell from the sky, 
etc. Products of farms and plantations, 
birds of the forest, shells and corals from 
the sea, fossil remains of living things 
buried in the earth for ages all have their 
lessons. Striking things there are, too, such 
as the egg that is variously taken for a foot 
ball or watermelon, and the tooth of a mam- 
moth, which, as one child pertinently re- 
marked, "had room for a lot of ache." 

Labels Tell Story in Simple Way. 

The exhibits are labeled in simple lan- 
guage so that older children may under- 
stand the descriptions. And the attendants 
of the museum are always ready to tell 
about the objects to those who are too 
young to read or who prefer to listen to the 
guide. 

On Saturday afternoons regular half-hour 
talks are given to such children as assemble, 
the subjects being the exhibits in different 




departments which are particularly interest- 
ing to children; these talks are somewhat 
informal, the listener having opportunity to 
ask questions or talk over the objects with 
the speaker. 

Arrangements have been made with Su- 
perintendent J. W. McClymonds of the city 
schools to have teachers bring their classes 
to the museum to listen to regularly ap- 



36 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



pointed talks, illustrated by objects in the 
collections. The subjects are arranged with 
the teacher to correlate with the regular 
school work and have proven very helpful 
to the classes. 

The Colonial rooms afiford a wealth of 
material for illustrating early American life 
and customs, and from the talks on these 
subjects the pupils gain a much clearer im- 
pression of Colonial America than they 
would receive from merely reading about 
the life of the colonists. When they see the 
"old rude-fashioned room" of Whittier's 
tale, with the huge fireplace, "crane and 
pendant trammels," its "whitewashed wall 
and sagging beam," or the bedroom like the 
one in which Lafayette slept at the Wayside 
Inn, they know what the home life of early 
days meant. When they watch the process 
of preparing flax and wool, spinning them 
into thread, and preparing the thread for 
the loom for weaving cloth, they know bet- 
ter how much a new dress or a new coat 
cost the men and women of the old Pilgrim 
days. 

Revolutionary relics bring that period of 
struggle home more clearly to the student 
of history; and the old pictures and histori- 
cal objects of later times serve to fasten in 
their minds facts of which they have read 
in their school work. 

The younger pupils, just reading the 
stories of early California, may see pictures 
of all the old missions, also a model of the 
first gold nugget found by James Marshall, 
with pictures of the Sutter Mill, where it 
was discovered; a wooden mining pan used 
in early days; some of the first cotton cloth 
made in Oakland; and other objects of pio- 
neer days in their own State. 

For classes beginning the study of natural 
history, the lecturer gives talks on insects, 
plants and flowers, birds or animals, par- 
ticularly those represented in the collection 



or found in the vicinity of Oakland. From 
this time on it is planned to keep on exhibi- 
tion fresh wild flowers in their season, so 
that the children who arc studying them 
in school may always find specimens at the 
museum, if they cannot go themselves to 
the woods and fields to pluck them. 

Talks on these and other subjects have 
been given to classes taken to the museum 
by their teachers, one each school daj' since 
the middle of November. The children are 
encouraged to ask questions and are al- 
lowed to handle and examine closely ex- 
hibits which are not perishable or will not 
be injured by moving and handling. 

Will Work With Public Schools. 

It is purposed to continue this work in 
connection with the public schools, so as to 
make the museum a permanent means of 
education in Oakland. And as soon as pos- 
sible an auditorium will be built, and lan- 
tern slides provided, so that lectures may be 
given on a variety of subjects which cannot 
be illustrated by the objects themselves. 
The educational value of a museum under 
such a system may be almost limitless. And 
it is believed that Oakland will realize that, 
being the first city on the coast to adopt 
such a plan, it behooves her to work it out 
to its greatest possible value. The good to 
be obtained from this system is not to be 
measured by the intrinsic value of the ex- 
hibits, but by the use made of them. An 
experienced teacher may give a greater les- 
son from an old spinning wheel or an ordi- 
nary hornet's nest than from a valuable 
painting or a rare jewel. And if the citi- 
zens of the city support the project by their 
personal interest, attendance and money, 
Oakland should retain what she now has — 
first place on the Pacific Coast in maintain- 
ing an educational department in connection 
with the municipal museum. 



38 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Key 





Route 



Key Route 



39 















Signal bridge over the Berkeley and Claremout lines at a point where they verge into the main line at 

San Pablo Ave. Note derailer system on tracks in foreground positively prohibiting 

passage of train unless main line tiacks are clear 



Key Route and Oakland Traction 
Company 




REATER OAKLAND!" To 
the thinker, Greater Oakland 
deals not only with what has 
been accomplished, but with 
that which is to be accom- 
plished. It is not only a taking into ac- 
count the past few years, but it is as well 
a prophecy for the near-coming years. 

Our city has taken, and is to take, promi- 
nent place in the list of commercial cities, 
not only of California, but as well of our 
great Nation. And true spirited Oaklanders, 
placing grateful acknowledgment where ac- 
knowledgment is due, granting merited ap- 
proval where approval is due, dwell with 
thoughtful significance upon that which has 
been accomplished by the Oakland Traction 
Company and by the "Key Route," which 
is the more familiar name of the San Fran- 



cisco, Oakland and San Jose Consolidated 
Railway. 

These lines have, without doubt, been 
most closely identified with the marked 
growth which has taken place in Oakland 
during the past few years. 

It is not difficult to recall the days be- 
fore the establishment of the splendid ser- 
vice now being rendered by the Key Route, 
when the extremely congested condition of 
the trans-bay travel and unsatisfactory 
hourly service meant almost the exclusion- 
of the fair cities on this, the east side of the 
bay. Nor is it difficult to recall the prop- 
erty values of outlying districts prior to the 
time of establishment of the ample trans- 
portation facilities aflForded by these lines, 
for comparison with the values of the pres- 
ent day. Take, for example, the attractive 



40 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Key Route 



41 




42 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



residence district in North Berkeley known 
as the Northbrae tract. This property was 
sold about six years ago at a price ranging 
from $500 to $1,000 per acre; this tract has 
been subdivided and is now selling at from 
$8,000 to $12,000 per acre. 

This same condition obtains in other out- 
lying districts, such as the Fremont tract 
of some thirty-one acres, which seven years 
ago was purchased at about $700 per acre. 
This also is subdivided and is now being 



settlement of these properties and their en- 
hancement in value? 

What of the fast modern steamers of the 
Key Route! Steamers giving 15 and 20- 
minute service, rushing to and fro between 
San Francisco and the handsomely equipped 
mole on the Oakland side of the bay! Its 
up-to-date electric trains! Are they not 
operated to render good service, good treat- 
ment, and, above all, so as to assure protec- 
tion to patrons? 




w f. r 



General Office of the Key Route and Oakland Traction Co., corner San Pablo Ave. and Jones Street, Oakland, Cal. 



rapidly purchased at prices ranging around 
$6,000 per acre. 

Is it not apparent that the change that has 
thus taken place is due to the establishment 
of the transportation facilities now being 
afforded by the Oakland Traction Company 
and the Key Route system? 

Has not the Oakland Traction Company, 
with its far-reaching lines, branching into 
all outlying districts, been the medium of 



This latter fact has surely been very def- 
initely brought out by the recent installa- 
tion of the new automatic block signal sys- 
tem upon their lines, between San Pablo 
Avenue and the Pier terminal, where the 
fact of nearly 600 daily trains being oper- 
ated over this short stretch of double track 
necessitates that the most extreme precau- 
tion be exercised to prevent accidents. The 
Key Route Company has placed this pro- 



Kky Route 



43 




uii_ Mi]y^^~''; 




44 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



tection about the traveling public, regard- 
less of the heavy expenditure its installa- 
tion entailed. 

The Oakland Traction Company and Key 
Route are composed of and controlled by 
men of Oakland. It should suflfice, so far 
as this city is concerned, to call public atten- 
tion to the fact that Mr. F. M. Smith is the 
dominating spirit of both companies. Oak- 
landers know well how he has but recently 
gone out into the markets of the world 
and drawn together the great corporation 
known as the United Properties Company 



alert to what the future holds in store for 
this viciaity. 

In fact, the Key Route's familiar trade 
mark (the sign of the key) has come to 
have particular significance, standing out in 
reality as the veritable Key, which, with its 
sister enterprise, the Oakland Traction 
Company, has opened up the great possibili- 
ties existant on this side of San Francisco 
Bay. 

The casual visitor to Greater Oakland is 
at once impressed with the excellence of the 
trans-bay and local transportation service 




Interior view of Key Route Power Station showing several of the large Corlis Engines and 
Dynamos which generate the poA'er 



of California, with a capital of two hundred 
millions of dollars, which vast sum is to be 
expended in the establishment of better- 
ments, with Oakland as the vorte.x of its 
accumulated strength. 

With the same keen, broad-tninded out- 
look which has made Mr. Smith's name 
synonymous in Oakland with such words as 
"growth," "enlargement" and "enrichment," 
he has surrounded himself with others who 
are identified with the predominating spirit 
of progression and who are men keenly 



afforded by the Key Route and Oakland 
Traction Company. 

The continual eflfort of these interests in 
affording betterments in extent, conveni- 
ence and safety of service are not only in 
the way of upbuilding their own lines, but 
Greater Oakland as well, for, acting in har- 
mony with the Chamber of Commerce and 
other commercial and economic bodies of 
Greater Oakland, the attention is gained of 
the man looking for a home or a business 
location, or the interest in search of an ad- 



Key Route 



45 




46 



Greater Oakland, 1911 








I? ■ 



X 



r 




Key Route 



47 



vantageous industrial site, so that the Key 
Route and Oakland Traction Company are 
in fact busy and indefatigable publicists for 
Greater Oakland. 

A recent new department embraces facili- 
ties and attractions whereby hundreds of 
people are each week brought across the 



transcontinental train service took them 
whirling through the back yard of Greater 
Oakland on their way to San Francisco. 

This is but one of the many instances 
where the Key Route and Oakland Traction 
Company interests have recognized a mani- 
fest need and an opportunity to assist and 




Showing signal standard of the new automatic block signal system and Key Route train 
on its way to the mole. Nearly 600 trains pass over these double tracks daily 



bay from San Francisco and shown the 
business and residential sections and all 
points of interest in Greater Oakland. 
These people would not otherwise visit the 
east side of the bay during their time on the 
Pacific Coast save as the exigencies of 



hasten the growth of the community, and 
have promptly grasped the opportunity and 
satisfied the need. 

Too, more than any other one interest in 
this entire section, the closely associated 
interests of these lines have been of benefit 



48 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Key Route 



49 




terior view of Electric Interlocking Tower No. 3 of Key Route 



Dakland and adjacent cities in the way 
giving employment to labor. At the 
sent time they employ in the neighbor- 
d of 2,000 men. This means a monthly 
roll to be distributed in Greater Oakland 
ipproximately $175,000. 
onsider the various departments re- 
ed to operate this great system: 
n Yerba Buena Avenue (Fortieth Street) 
■nding from San Pablo Avenue to the 

shore, are situated their car shops, ma- 
le shops, power house and material 
Is, each with its quota of skilled me- 
lics, carbuilders, foundrymen and elec- 
ans. At Haywards, on the extreme 
:h end of the line, is a power station 

car barns calling for a large force for 
•ation. At Central Station, in East Oak- 
1, is a headquarters for the storage of 
pment, requiring another force of men. 

Telegraph Avenue and Fiftieth Street 
the large car barns and shops for the 
age of the equipment of the northern 
■ict, requiring their employees. At Rich- 
id are the facilities for use in connec- 
with the East Shore and Suburban 
way, now a part of the Oakland Trac- 

Company. There is the marine depart- 
t with its five familiar orange-colored 



steamers, named "San Francisco," "Fern- 
wood," "Claremont," "San Jose" and "Yerba 
Buena," each with expert crews of skilled 
navigators. At the pier terminal, known as 
the Key Route Mole, is the headquarters of 
this department. Here again is required 
a large force to attend to the upkeep of the 
handsome ferry houses, wharves, etc. In 
the large building at the corner of Jones 
Street and San Pablo Avenue are located 
the general offices, a veritable beehive of ac- 
tivity, under the able heads of the vice- 
president, general superintendent and chief 
engineer of inaintenance of way, with va- 
rious sub-departments and diversified and 
widespread interests; also the purchasing 
department, the auditing department, with 
its large force of accountants, the claims de- 
partment and the line department. 

These numerous and various branches of 
labor, herein but briefly outlined, giving 
steady employment as they do year in and 
year out, have been one of the largest fac- 
tors in the establishment of Greater Oak- 
land homes — homes which are being created 
in surprisingly increasing numbers in an 
ever-widening territory, between Hayward 
on the south and Richmond on the north, 
between the mountains on the one hand 
and the sea on the other hand. 







Interior view of Lever Room with attendant on duty in interlocking room 



50 



Greater Oaklanp, 1911 




F. M. SMITH {Borax) 

President of the United Properties Co., Who Has Inaugurated 

THE Most Gigantic Consolidation of 

Interests in the West 



Gigantic Financial Concern Plans Big Things 

United Properties Company Will Expend Millions 
in Oakland and Vicinity 



The close of the year 1910 was marked 
by the filing of the articles of incorporation 
in the State of Delaware of the most power- 
ful corporation ever organized for the devel- 
opment of California interests, excepting that 
of the Southern Pacific Company, namely 
that of the United Properties Company, with 
a capitalization of $200,000,000. All of the 
incorporators are Californians and all of the 



interests combined in the company are Cali- 
fornia properties. The incorporators are F. 
M. Smith, William S. Tevis, R. G. Hanford, 
W. R. Alberger, Gavin McNab and Dennis 
Searles. The interests of which the United 
Properties Company is the holding organiza- 
tion are the Oakland Traction Company, 
which controls all the street electric railways 
serving the three cities located on the east- 



United Properties Company 



51 



em shore of San Francisco Bay and their 
suburbs ; the San Francisco, Oakland and 
San Jose Electric Railway and its transbay 
ferry system, popularly known as the Key 
Route, and the vast acreage of water-front 
lands adapted to commercial and industrial 
uses, and urban and suburban residence 
property, all of which are vested in F. M. 
Smith, and the water-producing lands and 
hydro-electric power sites owned by William 
S. Tevis in the Sierran basins of the Tuol- 
umne and American Rivers, and in the main 
streams which rise on the flanks of Mount 
Hamilton in the inner Coast Range of Santa 
Clara County. 

R. G. Hanford and Gavin McNab repre- 
sent the foreign interests that have financed 
the corporation with unlimited capital to de- 
velop the properties which have been placed 
under its control. The other members of the 
directorate represent the interests of Frank 
M. Smith merged in the holding company. 

On January 13th the directors named in 
the articles of incorporation of the United 
Properties Company organized by the elec- 
tion of the following officers : Frank M. 
Smith, president ; William S. Tevis, first 
vice-president ; R. G. Hanford, C. B. Za- 
briskie and W. R. Alberger, vice-presidents ; 
C. B. Zabriskie, treasurer ; F. W. Frost, 
secretary, and Gavin McNab, general counsel. 

The object of the merger is the reclama- 
tion of the large area of tidelands owned by 
the Realty Syndicate on the western water 
front of Oakland, the construction of 
wharves for deep-sea commerce on the fifty- 
year leasehold frontage on the northern side 
of the Key Route basin held by the San 
Francisco, Oakland and San Jose Railroad ; 
the extension of the latter electric railway 
system to Santa Clara County to the South 



and to Sacramento to the North, and later 
to other points ; the development of the Sier- 
ran water-power resources and the water 
supply sources of the Bay Cities Water Com- 
pany, and the opening up for settlement of 
the urban and suburban properties of the 
Realty Syndicate, which extend along the 
flanks of the Coast Range from the county 
line north of Berkeley to the neighborhood 
of Hayward. 

These undertakings involve the expendi- 
ture of vast sums of money, all of which 
will inure to the benefit of the city of Oak- 
land, as well as to the profit of the big 
corporation. The reclamation of western 
water-front lands and the building of 
wharves on the Key Route basin, which is to 
be the first enterprise to be developed, will 
cost, at a low estimate, $5,000,000, and this 
work is to be started at once. The exten- 
sions of the San Francisco, Oakland and 
San Jose intercounty system will absorb 
many millions more, and the development of 
the water supply and hydro-electric power 
sources still greater sums. The water sup- 
ply system is designed to meet the wants of 
the cities located on the shores of San Fran- 
cisco Bay and intermediate communities 
along the pipe line and the hydro-electric 
sites are to be utilized to supply power for 
the operation of the railway systems merged 
in the corporation and to serve the indus- 
tries which are expected to be located on the 
reclaimed water-front lands with light, heat 
and power. 

The carrying out of the various projects 
embraced in the plans of the United Proper- 
ties Company contemplates making Oakland 
the most important commercial and industrial 
and the most populous city on the Pacific 
Coast. 



(0):^=^^;::=^ 



52 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



The Southern Pacific and Oakland 




NTERDEPENDENT relations 
between the railroad and the 
city explain the activity now 
shown by the Southern Pa- 
cific. If "the old order chang- 
eth, giving place to new," it is not wholly 
because the old was antiquated, but because 
it was no longer equal to the demands of 
the new city. 

The old Oakland was not a mossback ex- 
cept in spots, any more than a boy is behind 
the times because he is a boy. He is sim- 
ply not a man. And the city of twenty years 
ago, of six years ago, was not the city of 
today. Its awakening, its growth, make de- 
mands upon the public carrier which the 
railroad is endeavoring to meet by an in- 
crease of facilities. 

A General Condition. 

The increase of popvilation and the 
growth of business taxes the carrying ca- 
pacity of railroads throughout the whole 
country. The statement has been made by 
a distinguished railroad builder that adverse 
legislation calculated to hinder railroad ex- 
tension was unwise because there were not 
railroads enough in the country to meet 
the present demands of business and travel. 
That this is so is fairly evidenced by the 
efforts of the great lines generally to im- 
prove their efficiency and to increase the 
working capacity of the roads generally. 

Railroad construction is everywhere ex- 
pensive; railroad reconstruction can be 
done at much less than the cost of building 
new lines, but the cost is still enormous. 
Double tracking is going on in several di- 
rections on the main lines of the Southern 
Pacific, notably from this city across the 
Sierras; grades are being lessened; curva- 
tures reduced; tunnels constructed; terminals 
enlarged, and the work involves vast ex- 
penditures of money. It is made necessar}' 
by the growth of travel and the expansion 
of business, and is undertaken for the pur- 



pose of augmenting the carrying capacity 
of the roads and their wider usefulness. 

The transportation lines, of course, are 
the gainers in all this, but so is the public. 
The interests of the public and of the pub- 
lic carrier are interblended, and because 
this is so, indubitably and necessarily so, ta 
antagonize the railroad, to treat it unfairly, 
to legislate against it unjustly, is poor pol- 
icy. Co-operation is better than kicking as 
a steady rule. There are times when a 
kick in the right place may be salutary, but 
chronic grumbling becomes a habit and de- 
feats its purpose. 

The Compulsion of Growth. 

The most forcible argument for railroad 
betterment is one which includes the inter- 
ests of both the public and the railroad. 
Thus the growth of cities necessitates- 
changes. It is a compelling power. The 
expansion of a city's suburbs, the increase 
of suburban travel, is a forcible and in- 
escapable reason for improving facilities. 

In the case of Oakland the demand of 
suburbanites and general "commuters" upon 
the railroad has rapidly increased for five 
years, and almost with the beginning of this 
expanding life of the city, the Southern Pa- 
cific began to plan the extensive changes, 
involved in discarding steam and substitut- 
ing electricity. Actual and active work be- 
gan in 1907, but necessarily this work of 
initiating great and expensive changes was 
not on the surface, and was not seen by the 
public. But the work was going on and is- 
now apparent. 

In the country at large the development 
of motive power other than steam has been 
going on for years and had to be studied. 
The change from steam to electricity could 
not be made as an experiment. It must be 
slowly worked out, in the face of constant 
improvements and substitutions, in devices- 
and ways of generating, transmitting and. 
applying power, and this took time. 



Southern Pacific Company 



53 




Southern Pacific Station, Alameda Pier, California 



It was clear that a new era had come in 
the application of electrical energy in trac- 
tion, the motive power being converted into 
mechanical power, but many months must 
be consumed in determining by travel and 
study of existing plants, the best methods 
as a whole, and in working out a multitude 
of details. Once installed, the system must 
not be a plaything, a cobhouse, but must be 
permanent — as permanency goes in a world 
of evolution — not only workable, eflficient, 
dependable, but it must be the best. 

Economy or Public Welfare. 

Now the general public is apt to think 
that such a change is justified by the econ- 
omy of electricity as compared with steam, 
and that this is the impelling motive. In 
the long run it is, but the public does not 
know what careful figuring a railroad must 
do in a case like this before deciding upon 



the expenditure of some millions of dollars. 
The fact is that the difiference in cost of op- 
eration and maintenance is not great as be- 
tween steam and electricity energy, and to 
counterbalance the great cost of change the 
slight saving must be applied through a 
long series of years. It is a wise change 
in the long run, and justified by considera- 
tions of business, but "business" also in- 
cludes the public patronage, the public good 
will, so that the real reason for the change 
is complex and not simple, and involves the 
comfort of passengers, the saving of time, 
the question of nerves, the elimination of 
shock and vibration, and the general re- 
quirement of cities for quieter operation 
than is possible with steam. 

And by the time the company has re- 
couped itself for the outlay the inventive 
Yankee will have devised a better system, 
or science will have made new discoveries, 
and then the costly equipment now being 



54 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Southern Pacific Company 



55 



installed may go to the junk pile, as the 
discarded material of today is going. 
The City's Gain. 
This is one thing certain: The practical 
outcome is the increased comfort of citizens, 
the augmented attractiveness of the city 
and its suburbs, the added value of all 
realty. The population can be doubled withr 
out crowding at the center, without incon- 
venience in getting to business from the 
suburbs, and all the city will be cleaner, 
quieter and more enjoyable as a place of 
residence. This will more clearly appear 
further on. We want to note here what 



who remember when Oakland was not. 
They recall the magnificent site of the city 
of today, a fine slope from the bay back to 
the hills, and fifteen hundred acres covered 
with the broad-topped oaks which gave the 
city its name. Here might have been an 
encampment of the ancient Druids, or this 
might have been a grove of Dodona in 
Greece, the climate and the landscape being 
not unlike that of Greece. 

The young city was for many years a 
great contrast to its treeless neighbor 
across the bay, its evergreen oaks resem- 
bling great apple trees, so that this city 




Trolley Wires, Alameda Mole, Cal. 



will be apparent at once, that the change 
fits the city of today. The great growth 
on this side of the bay calls for the best 
possible service on the part of the railroad, 
and the old-time corporation is meeting the 
new situation with the best that the prog- 
ress of electrical science aflfords. 

Have we waited long for these better- 
ments? Compared with the growth of Eu- 
ropean cities our American municipalities 
are mushrooms of a night. Even towns of 
moderate size across the big water are old, 
having their roots deep in the centuries. 

But many are living, hale and hearty. 



looked as if built in a vast orchard. It re 
tains many of its trees and is still pictur- 
esque because of them, but great business 
blocks are not built in groves of oak, nor 
are car lines and railroads and three hun- 
dred miles of graded streets favorable to 
the preservation of urban forests and natu- 
ral parks. 

Lake Merritt is still bordered with na- 
tive trees, and the extensive planting of 
trees and the awakening of the city to the 
need of additional parks has done much to 
enhance the beauty of the general land- 
scape. Many will recall, as if it were yes- 



56 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Southern Pacific Company 



57 



terday, the old wharf that projected into the 
bay; then the extension, in 1881, reaching 
1.3 miles toward Yerba Buena Island; then 
the long task of filling in with rock and soil 
and the gradual pushing out and expansion 
of the mole until the distance became 1.21 
miles and the actual acreage of made land 
11 acres, on which is laid five and one-half 
miles of siding. 

It has all been the evolution of a few 
years — the life of a young man of thirty-five 
or forty — and behind it is the pushing power 
of a city and the expansion of traffic around 



Electricizing Railroad Lines. 

The work is proceeding as rapidly as 
conditions admit. In its very nature the 
work demands carefulness, as we have said, 
before a stroke was allowed. Engineers ran- 
sacked the East to study, to find out what 
had been done and why; to find new meth- 
ods; to investigate new equipment; to ac- 
quire the latest ideas and the latest devices. 

The main power plant is at Fruitvale, 
one is at West Oakland, with a third at 
Berkeley. Before work was begun on these 




Switchboards, Power House. Fruitvale, Cal. 



that door to the greatest ocean, the Golden 
Gate. 

When the Argonauts came Oakland was 
not. A town was laid out in 1851 and the 
oak grove held the ground. Today its area 
is 60.77 square miles and its waterfront 27 
miles. It bids fair to become what our dis- 
tinguished ex-president said its location 
would make it, "the greatest railroad ter- 
minal on the Pacific Coast." 

The reclamation of more than four hun- 
dred acres from the bay on the city front 
means a large area for manufacturing, and 
the growth of various industries is antici- 
pated by the demand for leases on the new 
water front in advance of reclamation. 



the architect visited the chief cities of the 
East and visited all the large power plants. 
The building, greatly modified in form 
from anything he saw% is the result of the 
knowledge acquired in seeing what others 
had done. The main house is equipped to 
generate a 30,000 kilowatt output, equiva- 
lent, roughly speaking, to 30,000 horse- 
power. This can be increased by 15,000 
kilowatt by a small addition to the build- 
ing, provided for in the plans. The general 
instructions were to provide for all the 
'ioad," present and future, that they may 
be developed when the entire electrification 
of the bay district has been completed. 
The details from an engineering stand- 



58 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Southern Pacific Company 



59 




60 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Southern Pacific Company 



61 



point are too technical for any but experts, 
but in a general way the equipment is the 
very latest and what is called the Catenary 
Suspension is a conducting line and trolley 
differing in appearance and construction 
from anything in use in the United States. 
The conductors are as big as a standard 
garden hose and look much like it. When in 
place the trolley wire does not sag and in 
use does not emit sparks. The arrange- 
ment is such that pressure upon it when the 
train is in motion is uniform, the line be- 
ing straight, and is touched by the device 
which connects it with the motor coach, al- 



scrap of time for nobler things (sic) has 
only to place the bit of pasteboard in the 
brass fingers attached to the seat and fall 
into oblivion so far as the meddling conduc- 
tor is concerned. For the owls who fly 
by night, a reading light is placed over 
each seat, the effect of this being to assist 
in the education of the public by allowing 
nobody an excuse for solitary thinking 
apart from novels or newspapers. 

To facilitate this daily and nightly absorp- 
tion of "literature" while going to and from 
business, these new coaches are provided 
with "shock absorbers." It is not to be 




Motor on Klectric Truck 



ways from the same distance and with the 
same force. 

The roadbeds are reconstructed and put 
into first class condition and the coaches are 
being provided as rapidly as possible. These 
are all new and made entirely of steel. The 
motor coach weighs 109,400 pounds. The 
seating capacity of the passenger coach is 
116, and they are as comfortable as the 
most exacting could ask for. The seats hold 
three persons and a wide aisle runs between 
them. 

Brass slips are on each seat for holding 
tickets, and the hustling commuter who 
wants to read his newspaper and save a 



hastily inferred that this is to counteract 
the effect of the large headlines in the 
Daily Shocker, or of delicate situations in 
the plot of the problem novel in the "Cos- 
mopolitan." The shock absorber is an ar- 
rangement to eliminate physical bumps and 
thumps — to prevent vibration: in short, so 
that the reader may keep the line in book 
or paper with as much comfort as in the 
library at home. It is a great scheme, and 
that it may be enjoyed by all no arrange- 
ment is made for standpatters — or stand- 
uppers. 

No provision is made for people to stand 
up on two precarious legs, holding on to 



62 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Southern Pacific Company 



63 



overhead straps. These electric lines will 
have no straphangers — which means that 
enough coaches will be provided for all who 
travel. 

The electric train is started and stopped 
quickly and smoothly, the maximum power 
being available at the moment of starting, 
and the train is arrested speedily without 
jars. Up to date 125 coaches have been 
received — more to follow — and this means 
the scattering of the old coaches, and vast 
quantities of material relegated to the scrap 
pile. 

The facilities provided are not only ample, 



kind west of Omaha, so officials say. The 
cost will approximate $300,000. It will be 
of steel and concrete, the interior having 
a granite base and facings of terra cotta 
glazed tile. The roof will be California red 
tile. The ground area will be 600x140 feet, 
two stories in part, with mailing rooms 
both on the ground floor and above. This 
means that the local and main line travel 
will be provided for separately, the former 
using the upper waiting room and the lat- 
ter the lower. The upper room will be a 
roof garden in effect, and passengers for 
local points will go directly into trains 




Southern Pacific 

but anticipate 100 per cent increase in de- 
mand upon the new system. It will be re- 
alized. 

Shops are located in West Alameda and 
include repair shops, with track for nine 
cars, paint shop and car track for twelve 
cars, and an inspection shop with tracks 
for eighteen cars. 

The New Depot. 

Work has begun on the new passenger 
depot at Sixteenth Street, Oakland. As a 
matter of fact, it began long ago in the ele- 
vation of tracks to suit the new plans and 
in the working out of the plans themselves. 
The structure will be the handsomest of its 



Electric Cars 

from the second story, the tracks being ele- 
vated. Main line passengers will reach their 
trains from the ground floor, passing under 
the archway. This insures safety and in- 
sures also that trains on the main line will 
not be delayed waiting for locals to pass. 

This arrangement is again an expensive 
one, but necessary at this busy point to 
facilitate travel and to minimize dangerous 
accidents. Every railroad must guard against 
these, as they are apt to be mulcted for 
even the carelessness or recklessness of the 
traveler. 

The main waiting room will be 80x160 
feet, and will be finished in California mar- 
ble. The building will include all modern 



64 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Southern Pacific Company 



65 




66 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



conveniences, also necessary offices and 
other rooms, a United States postoffice, 
telephone service, etc. 

It is a constant aim of the company to 
improve its service and to provide comfort- 
able and even luxurious places from which 
patrons of the road can board the trains, or 
wait for trains or friends. A large item in 
a railroad bill of expense is this matter of 
depots in the larger cities, and their erec- 
tion is often deferred longer than, to the im- 
patient citizen, seems desirable or even wise 
as a business policy. 

But these fine structures are the luxuries 
of the service, and the public is as deeply 
interested as the railroad in good roadbeds, 
reduced curvatures, lower grades, block sig- 
nals and all that will save time in travel 
and trafific and reduce the element of dan- 
ger to the lowest point. These are the nec- 
essary things and to provide them the luxu- 
ries have sometimes to be delayed. It is 
good for the citizen sometimes to look at 
the railroad's side, and especially to note 
what railroad management has meant of late 
years. There has been but little expansion, 
save in reaching out for the trade of this 
wonderful Pacific Coast. But there has been 
immense growth within the great systems — 
sidings built, cars bought, new and larger 
engines put into service, mountains tun- 



neled, rivers bridged, equipment standard- 
ized — a hundred things that cost millions of 
dollars and mean efficiency and better serv- 
ice. The aim has been to make two tons 
of freight move where only one moved 
before, and it has been "up" to the rail- 
roads to keep pace with the growth of a 
prosperous country. 

This is the reason why the Southern Pa- 
cific is spending m.illions about the bay, to 
keep pace with the growth of a great region. 
This is why, after long planning and nearly 
four years of preparation, Oakland is to 
have a fine depot and an electric system sur- 
passed by none. The growth of the city 
has compelled it, and in time it will increase 
the city's growth. This is inevitable, and 
one of Oakland's assets today is in sight, if 
not quite an actuality — a modernized, effi- 
cient, luxurious suburban railroad service. 
Let us not grumble and criticize, but re- 
joice — and get in and work for a greater 
Oakland and a still more up-to-date railroad 
system, if the Genii of Invention is still on 
his job. 

Let the watchword be co-operation. It is 
one of the universe, and was at work in 
the world long before the monkey was 
reached in the process of evolution, or the 
descendants of the monkey became city 
dwellers and railroad builders. 



Southern Pacific Company 



67 



Lance Richardson 




District Freight and Passenger Agent 
Southern Pacific Co. 



One of the most efficient all around rail- 
road men in California is Mr. Lance Rich- 
ardson, District Freight and Passenger 
Agent of the Southern Pacific System in 
Oakland. 

Mr. Richardson is a native of California 
and is a self-made man in the fullest sense 
of the term. He began his career in the 
modest position of messenger boy when a 
lad, and later mastered the art of teleg- 
raphy. As an expert telegrapher he rose 
to the responsible position of train dis- 
patcher and also has filled the position of 
train master. 



He has acted as local agent for the 
Southern Pacific at various points in Cali- 
fornia, and just previous to coming to Oak- 
land, was for five years Commercial Agent 
at Santa Barbara. 

Mr. Richardson has had thirty years' rail- 
road experience, all with the Southern Pa- 
cific Company, in both the operating and 
traffic departments. The large amount of 
business transacted through the Oakland 
office of the Southern Pacific places 'Mr. 
Richardson in a position of the first magni- 
tude, and he is particularly well equipped 
to take care of all its responsibilities. 



68 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



liiiiittfiyiiililMi 




CTTiTiiir.'" vjmti-.-air • 



Western Pacific 



69 



The Latest Railroad Across the Continent 

B\f Homer J. Carr 




HEN C. P. Huntington, build- 
er of the Central Pacific, 
turned in disgust from A. 
W. Keddie, pathfinder of 
the Sierras forty-five years 
ago, after telling him that his dream of a 
railroad through the wild and tortuous 
Feather River canyon was worse than a 
dream — that it was a furious nightmare — 
the heart of the enthusiastic engineer was 
well-nigh broken. 

After a year's arduous and dangerous 
work, Keddie succeeded in finding a way 
through the Sierras in that gold-strewn 
canyon for the first railroad ever built 
from the Pacific Coast, leading across the 
continent. "No man will ever be fool 
enough to try to build a railroad through 
that canyon," said Huntington, ending 
the interview. 

Keddie is one of the few survivors of 
the generation building the first transcon- 
tinental line and as an old man, the other 
day stood on the steps of the city hall at 
Quincy, Cal., and made the welcoming 
speech to the first passenger train to run 
through the famous Feather River canyon 
on the new Western Pacific. 

His dream of a half century ago had 
come true, and the old engineer's voice 
broke as he told of the ignominious rejec- 
tion of his plans by the builders of that 
first railroad constructed across the pre- 
cipitous and forbidding Sierra Nevada. 

But if Keddie, the engineer, found the 
physical pathway for the latest, and for 
many years to come probably the last of 
the transcontinental lines, it was E. T. 
Jeflfery who found the financial resources 
which are the vital element of every great 
undertaking. 

Mr. Jeflfery was elected president of the 
Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Com- 
pany on September 30, 1891. The system 



then comprised about 1,600 miles, with its 
western terminus at Grand Junction, Colo., 
about 250 miles from Denver. 

In 1895 he commenced studying the ex- 
tension of the system west, either by pur- 
chase of the Rio Grande Western Rail- 
way, extending from Grand Junction to 
Salt Lake City and Ogden, or by building 
an independent line to the points named, 
with the ultimate object, circumstances 
permitting, of extending to the Pacific 
Coast. 

About ten years ago Mr. Jeflfery nego- 
tiated for the purchase of the Rio Grande 
Western, having in the meantime had pri- 
vate reconnaissances made for a Pacific 
Coast extension. In 1903 he began taking 
necessary steps, confidentially, in Califor- 
nia for securing control of Beckwourth 
Pass (5,000 feet above sea level) and 
Feather River canyon, between the pass 
and Oroville, Cal. 

In 1905 Mr. Jeflfery negotiated with 
bankers the sale of $50,000,000 Western 
Pacific 5 per cent first mortgage gold 
bonds, and under the mortgage deposited 
the proceeds at interest with responsible 
depositaries in New York and other finan- 
cial centers. 

Soon thereafter he let to lowest respon- 
sible bidders the greater portion of con- 
struction work of the Western Pacific 
Railroad, and began securing ample ter- 
minals in San Francisco and Oakland, Cal. 

The enterprise was delayed by the great 
San Francisco earthquake and fire; also by 
the financial panic of the latter part of 
1907 and the first half of 1908, although 
work was carried on continuously with di- 
minished monthly expenditures, , 

In 1908 Mr. Jeflfery perfected a general 
financial plan for the Denver and Rio 
Grande in the form of a first and refund- 
ing mortgage for $150,000,000, of which 



70 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Western Pacific 



71 



about $18,000,000 could be applied to the 
completion of the Western Pacific by the 
purchase of second mortgage bonds of 
that company at 75 per cent face value, 
under certain contracts entered into be- 
tween the Denver and Rio Grande and 
Western Pacific companies in 1905. In the 
latter part of 1909 he sold 40,000 shares of 
the preferred stock of the Denver and Rio 
Grande Railroad Company for providing 
further funds for Western Pacific, without 
adding to the fixed charges on the Denver 
and Rio Grande — a remarkable financial 
achievement, considering all conditions. 

The Western Pacific Company expended 
to June 30, 1910 (exclusive of accrued in- 
terest on second mortgage bonds), the vast 
amount of $70,438,302.41. 

These funds were provided as follows: 
$48,008,144.82 were proceeds, with interest, 
of the sale of $50,000,000 of its first mort- 
gage 5 per cent thirty-year gold bonds; 
$18,784,333.40 were the proceeds, with in- 
terest, from the sale of $25,000,000 second 
mortgage 5 per cent gold bonds sold to 
the Denver and Rio Grande Company, and 
$4,606,412.01 were advanced by the Denver 
and Rio Grande Company. 

The marked feature of this great enter- 
prise of which Mr. Jefifery is president, 
and one which should impress the public 
generally, is that it has been built without 
subsidies or donations of any kind or 
character. It has paid for every foot of 
its right of way and every part of its 
station grounds and terminal facilities. 
This is in strong contrast with the old 
Central Pacific, now a part of the Southern 
Pacific system, which was subsidized so 
liberally by the general government with 
bonds and land grants, that large fortunes 
were made by its promoters. 

Mr. Jefifery deserves practically all the 
credit for the inception, the financing, the 
engineering features and the proper equip- 
ping of the Western Pacific, and he is now 
hopefully exerting himself to build up its 
traffic and make it a self-sustaining prop- 
erty. 

Where the Sierra Nevada spread out to 
the northward like a feather, three rivers, 
each called a fork of the Feather River, 
have their sources a mile and a half 
above sea level, and then through the 



cleft in the granite rocks drop their wa- 
ters down to the low altitude of the 
great fertile valleys of Central California. 

The canyons which the rivers follow are 
without valleys. Generally there is just 
room for the tempestuous stream. The 
sides of the canyons are nearly perpen- 
dicular, rising frequently to the timber 
line above the stream, which tumbles and 
boils at their base. They are crooked, 
as Nature almost always breaks its chasms 
in the solid rocks. Somewhere Nature 
snugly concealed pure gold in the course 
of the streams from the mountain tops to 
the valleys below. 

The roughest and most picturesque of 
the canyons of the Feather River, the 
one known as the North Fork, was se- 
lected by the new Western Pacific as its 
gateway into the valleys of the central 
portion of the Golden State. The pass 
leading to it was one of the lowest of 
the Sierra Nevada. With a tunnel about 
6,000 feet long, this pass was crossed at an 
elevation of a little over 5,000 feet. Then 
the engineers laying the lines ran them 
to the headwaters of the Feather River, 
famous from the days of the gold excite- 
ment in California history. 

There followed one of the most exacting 
pieces of railroad engineering to be found 
anywhere. The engineers were under im- 
perative orders that they must not lay out 
grades over 1 per cent. At no point 
through the 150 miles of canyon before 
them must the track drop over 53 feet to 
the mile. 

At many places the drop was far greater 
than that. Again, it was much less. A 
series of waterfalls carried the river 
toward sea level at a prodigious pace. 
But whether the fall was great, or little 
more than to give a current to a narrow 
and crooked stream, the railroad grade 
must remain the same. 

To accomplish their aim the engineers 
at times cut their lines in solid rock hun- 
dreds of feet above the river. Again, the 
tracks are only just high enough to escape 
the torrential current of the river, when 
the river rises forty-five to fifty feet over 
night. 

At many points on the line of the new 
Western Pacific Railroad there was not 



72 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Western Pacific 



73 



room enough in the canyon for both river 
and railroad, and solid walls of masonry 
had to be built to carry the tracks above 
the stream. At other points the sharp 
curves in the canyon have sent the tracks 
back and forth from one side to the other 
on steel bridges and high trestles. 

In building the line, material and work- 
men frequently had to be let down the 
sides of the canyon by ropes hundreds of 
feet in length to start construction on new 
sections. Wagon roads are everywhere 
impossible. 

At last, after endless turnings and twists 
in fighting its way through 150 miles of 
the canyon, the tracks come out into the 
broad valley at Oroville, over which, for 
countless ages, the Feather River has 
poured debris from its mountain fast- 
nesses. 

So much gold did the river bring down 
that the soil down to the solid bedrock is 
being dug up by dredges and washed for 
its gold. Beautiful orange orchards, large 
tracts of land given over to olives and 
other fruits, are being now torn to pieces 
in the ceaseless hunt for gold. 

That metal is being found in such quan- 
tities in the debris of ages from the 
Feather River that the miners are begin- 
ning to rival in their wealth the pioneers 
in the goldfields of the State. 

In startling contrast to this long stretch 
of canyon scenery is the great salt desert 
through which the new road runs after 
leaving Salt Lake City. This desert is 
sixty miles long and fifteen miles wide, 
composed of rock salt 97 per cent pure. 

Right through the center of it the engi- 
neers of the road ran their lines, and 
for forty-six miles there is not a curve in 
the tracks. The ties are laid on a bed of 
solid salt, two or three feet above the 
level of the plain. The salt looks like a 
field of ice and snow, and it is difficult 
for the traveler to realize that his train 
is not passing through a wintry scene of 
the far North. 

When the engineers laid out the line 
four years ago they followed the same 
course in crossing the southern end of 
Great Salt Lake. For years that myster- 
ious body of water had been drying up. 
Its waters receded every season hundreds 
of feet, and it was predicted that before 



many more years Great Salt Lake would 
have disappeared. And so with the ut- 
most confidence the engineers laid their 
tracks over its old bed. 

Then Nature changed its mind in regard 
to drying up the great lake. It sent a 
flood of water into it from somewhere, 
and soon the waters came up around the 
newly built tracks. 

Then one day there came a furious 
storm from the North and when it was 
over there were many miles of the new 
tracks, not yet tested by other than con- 
struction trains, scattered and twisted amid 
the saline scenery. When this track was 
rebuilt the engineers saw that it was pro- 
tected, this time by countless trainloads of 
broken rock dumped on either side of the 
tracks. 

The first passenger train was sent over 
the new transcontinental road, the West- 
ern Pacific, about a year ago, and it is 
now open to traffic. Passing through an 
undeveloped region most of the way from 
Salt Lake City to San Francisco, great 
things are expected of the new line, which 
has promised to work wonders in the face 
of a country which for the most part has 
been little affected by the tremendous 
growth on all sides of it. 

This has been due, it is said, to the 
meager transportation, and distances to 
market were prohibitory. The new region 
thus opened for development is larger than 
many European principalities, and will 
support a large population when its re- 
sources receive due attention. 

The importance of the new Western 
Pacific Railroad's extension westward from 
Salt Lake City to San Francisco lies in the 
fact that by the connection of the Denver 
and Rio Grande Railroad at Salt Lake 
City it makes a line of aflfiliated railroads 
from Pittsburg and Detroit to the Pacific 
Coast. 

The length of the Western Pacific from 
Salt Lake City to San Francisco is 927 
miles, including four miles of ferry from 
Oakland to San Francisco. It crosses Ne- 
vada in its most popular section, passes 
into California and reaches San Francisco 
by way of Oroville, Marysville, Sacra- 
mento, Stockton and Oakland. 

The Western Pacific extends through a 
section of the country that in many parts 



74 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Western Pacific 



75 




WESTERN PACfFIC 




Western Pacific Ticket OflSce, Oakland, California 



has received no addition to its transpor- 
tation agencies since the first Pacific road 
was opened forty years ago. Its remark- 
able features are low grades, permanent 
construction and freedom from snow drifts. 
This new road opens up a vast agricul- 
tural, fruit, timber and mineral territory 
to a ready market, and has exceedingly 
valuable terminals at San Francisco, on 
both sides of the bay, especially adapted 
to the development of commerce with the 
Orient. 



The cities of central California confi- 
dently expect a prosperity equal to that 
of Los Angeles and San Diego from the 
building of this line to Eastern markets. 
There was greater excitement over the 
coming of the first train at many of the 
cities of the central part of the State than 
marked the opening of the Central Pacific 
some forty years before. Oakland sus- 
pended business entirely for the day and 
Sacramento had a great celebration. 



76 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Western Pacific 



77 




W. B. TOWNSEND 

District Freight and Passenger Agent 
Western Pacific Company 



78 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



W. B. Townsend 



W. B. Townsend, present District Freight 
and Passenger Agent of the Western Pa- 
cific Railway at Oakland, started in at the 
age of eighteen as official photographer 
for the Missouri Pacific Railway, at St. 
Louis. After putting in two years taking 
photographs of all industries, depots, etc., 
of the Missouri Pacific system, he was ap- 
pointed Traveling Passenger Agent of the 
Missouri Pacific and St. Louis, Iron Moun- 
tain & Southern Railways, at Memphis. 
From Memphis he was transferred as Trav- 
eling Passenger Agent at Chicago for the 
Missouri Pacific system. 

Immediately after the peace treaty be- 
ing passed with the Spaniards after the 
Cuban War, Mr. Townsend signed a large 
contract with the N. D. Thompson Pub- 
lishing Company and the St. Louis Re- 
publican to visit Cuba, Isle of Pines, Porto 
Rico, Sandwich Islands and the Philip- 
pines and take some three thousand pic- 
tures, showing the island possessions of 
the United States as they were immediately 
after the war, and writing upon conditions 
of the country at that time. This took a 
year and a half to accomplish and resulted 
in the publication of a thousand-page book 
called "Our Island Possessions and Their 
People," which was sold extensively in 
connection with newspapers throughout all 
parts of the United States. 

After completing this trip, Mr. Townsend 
was appointed Superintendent of the South- 
western Railway Advertising and Distribut- 
ing Company at St. Louis, that company 
distributing railway advertising matter 
throughout the States of Missouri, Illinois, 



Kansas, Nebraska, Texas and Louisiana. 

January 1, 1902, Mr. Townsend was ap- 
pointed Traveling Passenger Agent for the 
Rock Island Railway, at Buflfalo, where he 
remained during the BufTalo Exposition. 
From that point he was transferred as 
Traveling Passenger Agent of the Rock 
Island Railway at Salt Lake City. He re- 
signed this position to take that of Con- 
tracting Freight Agent for the Missouri 
Pacific Railway at San Francisco. From 
this he was appointed Traveling Freight 
and Passenger Agent of the Denver & Rio 
Grande, at San Francisco, and later Dis- 
trict Freight and Passenger Agent of the 
D. & R. G., Missouri Pacific and Texas 
& Pacific Railways, at San Jose, and later 
was again transferred to San Francisco, and 
July 1, 1910, was appointed District Freight 
and Passenger Agent of the Western Pa- 
cific and Denver & Rio Grande Railways, 
at Oakland. 

Mr. Townsend has been a railroadman, 
newspaperman, in the advertising business, 
and photographer, and in all his various 
residences throughout the United States 
likes Oakland better than any other previ- 
ous home. 

He married a California girl. Miss Leila 
McKillican, daughter of Robert McKilli- 
can, a prominent contractor of Oakland, 
and owns a handsome little bungalow at 
the foot of Paru Street, in Alameda. 

Mr. Townsend is a member of the En- 
cinal Yacht Club, the Athenian Club, of 
Oakland, the Nile Club, the Shriners' Club, 
Apollo Lodge of Masons, and California 
Commandery, San Francisco. 




Santa Fe 



79 




Santa Fe Depot, 40th and San Pablo Ave., Oakland, California 



Santa Fe System 




HEN the history of the pres- 
ent era of development of tlie 
city of Oakland is written 
there should be a chapter de- 
voted to the part which the 
Santa Fe Railroad has played in this most 
interesting drama of modern Western life. 
Through the story of Oakland's struggle 
from the days of depression and the condi- 
tion of a flag station on the line of travel 
and transportation; from the days of being 
regarded as merely a suburb of the older 
city across the bay, to a position and times 
where her individuality and distinctive char- 



acter is acknowledged by the whole world, 
there runs a strain that has become more 
and more dominant as the pulse of com- 
mercial and industrial activity became 
stronger. That growing and predominating 
tone came from the pulsing of the engines 
that draw the commerce of two continents 
to and from the waterfront of Oakland. 
The railroad managers saw the Oakland of 
the future and they began to build in such 
wise that they might be in a position to 
take part in the development that their 
clear vision showed them was coming. This 
development and this prescience, while it 



80 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Santa Fe 



81 



was mere "business" with the railroad peo- 
ple, meant more than the coming of the 
iron tracks to Oakland, because it gave her 
own citizens and the outside world faith in 
her destiny. The Santa Fe played a most 
important part in that work of showing the 
faith of large interests in Oakland. Through 
this close connection the past histor.y and 
future development of the city of Oakland 
and that of the Santa Fe Railroad system 



increasing importance of the city. In either 
case, the railroad and the city of Oakland 
marched shoulder to shoulder, and under 
the same flag of progress battled for the 
betterment of the metropolis of the east bay 
shore. 

The coming of the Atchison, Topeka and 
Santa Fe Railroad into Central California 
dates back to 1884, when under a contract 
with the Southern Pacific the trains of the 




Interior Santa Fe Ticket Office, Oakland 



have become interwoven. The things which 
work for the upbuilding of Oakland will 
work for the increase of the importance of 
the Santa Fe Railroad. 

The principal events in the history of the 
coming of the Santa Fe Railroad to Oak- 
land are associated with distinct moves for- 
ward by this city. It matters not whether 
the forward moves of Oakland were caused 
by the acts of the railroad or whether it 
was the other way about and the railroad 
provided additional facilities because of the 



Santa Fe ran from Needles to Mojave. 
Under the arrangement made at that time, 
the Santa Fe issued its own tickets and 
bills of lading at California terminals — Oak- 
land, San Francisco and Stockton. In 1886, 
when the great transcontinental passenger 
rate war was on, the Santa Fe was in a situ- 
ation to take advantage of it and the busi- 
ness to and from Oakland swelled to a large 
volume. The Santa Fe Railroad Company 
has had a ticket oflfice in Oakland on Broad- 
way since January, 1887. In fact, the Santa 



82 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Santa Fe 



83 




84 



Greater Oakland, IDII 



Fe road was the pioneer in providing such 
facilities for the traveling public. 

On July ]. 1900, the Santa Fe operated its 
first trains into and out of Richmond. This 
signalized the reaching of the bay of San 
Francisco by a line which had started orig- 
inally on the Missouri River for the purpose 
of giving means of communication with To- 
peka, thirty miles away. Coming to Rich- 



Oakland which has since astonished the 
world. 

The future was to prove, however, that 
the Santa Fe was to more closely identify 
its interests with those of Oakland, and on 
May 1, 1911, a new freight depot was opened 
at Twentieth and Adeline Streets, within fif- 
teen blocks of the business center at Four- 
teenth and Broadway. 




Santa Fe Freight Yards, Oakland 



mond, however, was not coming to Oak- 
land, and on May 16, 1904, the passenger 
and freight trains on the Santa Fe ran into 
the station at Fortieth and San Pablo. The 
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad 
on that day celebrated its practical en- 
trance into Oakland. Those who are fa- 
miliar with the history of this city can 
look back to that day several years ago and 
see the commencement of the growth of 



The successive steps bj^ which the Santa 
Fe Railroad has worked its way from Rich- 
mond, fifteen miles from the center of Oak- 
land, to its present freight terminal, within 
a little more than one mile, illustrates the 
manner in which the managers of the rail- 
road company have appreciated the import- 
ance of the business of this city. 

The Santa Fe Railroad Company was the 
first to put on sale coupon passenger tickets 



Santa Fe 



85 







8C 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




City Freight Office, 

in a Broadway office. The present general 
agent of the Santa Fe in Oakland, J. J. 
Warner, commenced his service with the 
company on June 1, 1886, and since June 14, 
1888, he has been in charge of the Oakland 
office. 

Two years ago the Santa Fe Company re- 
furnished and refitted the office building on 
Broadway and made it one of the best ap- 
pointed city passenger and freight offices on 
this line west of Chicago. For the past five 
years the passenger department of the Oak- 
land office of the Santa Fe has been in 
charge of T. A. Rigdon, one of the best 
known passenger men on the coast. 



Santa Fe Railway Co. 

The business of the Santa Fe Railroad 
Company in Oakland has grown in propor- 
tion to the growth of the city and to the 
provision of facilities for handling passen- 
ger and freight traffic. 

Oakland is recognized by the Santa Fe 
Railroad Company as having the importance 
that attaches to a city located at the actual 
terminal of the great transcontinental sys- 
tem, and where live a quarter of a million 
people who are the greatest travelers on 
the continent and who as such appreciate 
the superior accommodations and courteous 
treatment which is the rule on all the trains 
and in all the offices of this system. 



Santa Fe 



87 




T. A. RIGDON 
Passenger Agent, Santa Fe Railway Co. 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




J. J. WARNER 

Genkral Agent, Freight and Passenger Departments 
Santa Fe Railway, Oakland 



Mr. J. J. Warner, who is in charge of 
the traffic affairs of the Santa Fe System 
in Oakland and vicinity, is widely known 
throughout the West as a capable and 
popular railroad official. 

Mr. Warner is a native of Michigan, 
born in Van Buren County on August 2, 
1860. After a practical education in the 
Eastern public schools, he began his career 
as a court reporter, having become an ex- 
pert in stenography at the age of nineteen. 

He came West in his early youth, and 
after filling various positions in line with 
his profession, accepted a position as 
stenographer to the General Passenger 
Agent of the Denver & Rio Grande Rail- 
road in Denver, where he remained for 
four j'ears. 

In 1884 he received the appointment of 
secretary to what was at that time known 
as the "Pool Commission" of the Trans- 
continental Railway Association, in San 
Francisco. In 1886 he was appointed Sec- 
retary to W. A. Bissell, Assistant Traffic 
Manager of the Santa Fe System. 



In June, 1888, he was made local repre- 
sentative of the Santa Fe in Oakland, 
where he has remained for the past twenty- 
three years. 

Everyone who knows Mr. Warner, knows 
he has "made good" in every position he 
has been called upon to fill; even when 
little more than a boy his work brought 
the highest praise from his employers and 
business associates, and among his most 
valued possessions are the finest kind of 
letters from railway officials and others, 
some of them dating way back in the 
'70's. One letter in which he takes particu- 
lar pride is a strong recommendation from 
the late Mr. Wyckoff, of Wyckoff, Seaman 
& Benedict, founders of the Remington 
Typewriter business, written in 1878. 

He now has supervision of all the freight 
and passenger business in Alameda County 
and part of Contra Costa County as far 
as Martinez. 

Mr. Warner's marriage to Miss Ethel L. 
King occurred in Kentucky on June 34, 
1889. 



Farmers and Merchants' Bank 



91 




Farmers and Merchants Bank, I3th and Franklin Streets 



92 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



The Farmers and Merchants Savings Bank 
of Oakland, Cahfornia 



HIS savings bank was organ- 
ized in 1893, and until June 
29, 1910, occupied banking 
rooms on Broadway, just 
north of Twelfth Street, 
when the business was removed to the 
new bank building at the southeast cor- 
ner of Thirteenth and Franklin Streets. 
This bank transacts strictly a savings 




land and the surrounding country and 
usually do not exceed 50 per cent of the 
appraised value of the real estate and im- 
provements. 

The Farmers and Merchants Savings 
Bank has four classes of savings accounts: 
Term, ordinary, special ordinary (subject 
to check) and certificates of deposit. It 
also has checking accounts for the con- 




business in all respects in accordance with 
the laws governing savings banks in the 
State of California. Its deposits are in- 
vested in interest bearing securities of the 
first class. Its loans are made only after 
careful investigation of the security of- 
fered, and the greater portion of the loans 
are made upon first mortgages in Oak- 



interior view, Farir.ers and Merchants Savings Bank 

venience of its customers. 

The new home of the Farmers and 
Merchants Savings Bank is located at the 
southeast corner of Thirteenth and Frank- 
lin Streets, and is one of the handsomest 
buildings of its kind on the Coast. It is a 
building of the distinctive bank building 
type and is used only for banking pur- 



Farmers and Merchants' Bank 



93 




Farmers and Merchants Bank, Cashiers' Department 



94 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



poses. It is strictly of Class A construc- 
tion, with steel frame, and is absolutely 
fireproof. It is the first building of its 
type ever erected in Greater Oakland. The 
architects were Sutton & Weeks. 

Prior to definitely adopting plans for its 
construction, the officers of the bank in- 
spected many buildings of this class in the 
principal cities of the East, and selecting 
the most desirable features of each, caused 
them to be embodied in the new structure. 

Of modified Grecian architecture, the 
building lifts from a base of highly pol- 
ished granite to the height of an ordinary 
three-story building. The superstructure 
was built of white menti stone from Utah. 
The building occupies a lot fifty feet front- 
ing on Franklin Street and one hundred 
feet on Thirteenth Street. Its facade is 
supported by Ionic columns having beau- 
tifully carved architraves, between which 
appears the name of the bank in letters 
of stone. 

The interior of the bank was arranged 



as to working space with infinite pains 
and is roomy, well ventilated and beauti- 
ful to look upon, as the decorations ex- 
press the best taste of the best decorator 
obtainable. The vaults lack nothing in 
strength and are protected by the Ameri- 
can District Telegraph Company's electri- 
cal devices. One of the features of the 
bank is its ladies' parlor, which is the 
finest of its kind on the Coast and greatly 
appreciated by all the lady customers of 
the bank. Another feature is the safe 
deposit department which is adequately 
equipped with safe deposit boxes with the 
new Yale changeable key locks. 

The officers and directors of the bank 
are as follows: Edson F. Adams, presi- 
dent; S. B. McKee, vice-president; Geo. 
S. Meredith, cashier, and F. C. Martens, 
assistant cashier. Directors: Edson F. 
Adams. S. B. McKee. A. W. Schafer, C. 
D. Bates, A. L. Stone, Geo. S. Meredith 
and F. C. Martens. 




Union Savings Bank 



95 




Union Sav-ings Bank, 13th and Broadway 



96 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



U 



mon Davings 



Bank 




NION Savings Bank of Oak- 
land, California, was incor- 
porated May 26, 1869, with a 
capital of $300,000 (3,000 
shares of $100 each). The 
directors are: John B. Felton, A. C. 
Henry, J. West Martin, John C. Hayes 
and E. Bigelow. Location, own property, 
southeast corner of Nintii and Broadway, 
which was on September 17, 1904, changed 
to the new quarters, northeast corner of 
Broadway and Thirteenth Street, where 
the bank is now located, occupying the 
first and only eleven-story beautiful build- 
ing in the city of Oakland. 

The strong and absolute belief in the 
brilliant future of Oakland was thus es- 
tablished by the bank's board of direc- 
tors, and there may be some reason to 
doubt that other high buildings would 
have been erected had not the Union 
Savings Bank thrown the searchlight on 



the path and handled the key that opened 
the lock for Oakland to be a city of 
beautiful buildings. 

The bank's directors are now seven in 
number: Wm. G. Henshaw, Hon. Victor 
H. Metcalf, Chas. T. Rodolph, W. A. Bis- 
sell, H. J. Knowles, P. C. Black and Hon. 
Jos. R. Knowland, and the following of- 
ficers, viz.: Wm. G. Henshaw, president; 
Victor H. Metcalf, vice-president and man- 
ager; Chas. T. Rodolph, vice-president 
and assistant manager; A. E. H. Cramer, 
cashier; L. E. Boardman, assistant cash- 
ier, and C. F. Gorman, assistant cashier. 

Under the present bank act, the bank 
has a "commercial department" as well as 
a "savings department," with a combined 
paid-in capital of $300,000 and surplus and 
undivided profits of $423,000, and with 
these figures ofifers a greater guaranty to 
its depositors than many another bank. 



Central National Bank 



97 




Central National Bank, 14th and Broadway, Oakland. California 



98 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Interior View, Central National Bank 



Central National Bank 




HE Central National Bank of 
Oakland and its savings af- 
filiation, the Central Savings 
Bank, represent a strength 
as regards capital second to 
no bank in Alameda County, their paid-up 
capital being $1,500,000. Added to this 
they have a surplus and undivided profits 
in excess of $375,000. 

The Central Savings Bank of Oakland 
is the older institution, having been organ- 
ized in 1892 as the Home Savings Bank. 
The title was subsequently changed to the 
Central Bank and under this name it con- 
tinued as both a savings and commercial 
bank until August 12, 1909, on which date 
the commercial business of the Central 
Bank was converted into a national asso- 
ciation under the title of the Central Na- 
tional Bank of Oakland, with a paid-up 
capital and surplus of $1,125,000, which 
has since increased to $1,250,000. 

The Central Bank then continued as a 
strictly savings institution, and that its 



name might more properly express its 
business, in April of this year its title wai 
changed from Central Bank to Central 
Savings Bank of Oakland, its capital hav- 
ing previously been increased from $300,- 
000 paid up to $500,000, with a surplus 
and undivided profits of $125,000. 

The combined resources of the affiliated 
banks at the date of their last statement 
were approximately $13,650,000. 

The Central National Bank of Oakland 
is now easily the leading commercial bank 
in Alameda County, having assets in the 
neighborhood of $8,000,000, and the Cen- 
tral Savings Bank takes rank with the 
largest of the savings banks in this city, 
with assets in the neighborhood of $6,- 
000,000. The banks are housed in a five- 
story brick and stone building at the 
northeast corner of Fourteenth and Broad- 
way, which is the property of the Central 
Savings Bank, having been acquired by 
them in 1S9? a^d occupied continuously 
by tluni .■=ircc tliiit date. With a floor 



Central National Bank 



99 




aop 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



area of approximately 100x100 feet, the 
banks aic given a magnificent banking 
room with ample light and a spacious 
lobby. 



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Central National Bank Vaults 

At a great expense they have just in- 
stalled new coin and book vaults which 
are of the latest design and are not ex- 
celled in the city, the great coin vault 
being practically impregnable. 

The Central Safe Deposit Vaults, lo- 



cated on the Fourteenth Street side of 
the building, with entrances both from 
Fourteenth Street and from the lobby of 
the bank, are the property of the Central 
Savings Bank and have the largest and 
finest safe deposit equipment to be found 
in Oakland. 

Both banks are under the control of 
the same board of directors, composed of 
representative men in different lines of 
business. They are: 

J. F. Carlston, president. 

R. M. Fitzgerald, vice-president and at- 
torney-at-law. 

John L. Howard, president of the West- 
ern Fuel Company. 

J. W. Phillips, president Grayson-Owen 
Company, wholesale butchers. 

T, A. Crellin, of the Morgan Oyster 
Company and Ruby Hill Vineyard Com- 
pany. 

W. G. Manuel, commission merchant. 

George C. Perkins, United States Sen- 
ator. 

J. K. Mofifitt. cashier. First National 
Bank of San Francisco. 

A. S. Blake, president of the Oakland 
Paving Company and Blake & Bilger. 

W. T. Veitch. contractor and capitalist. 

F. M. Smith, president of the United 
Properties Company and Pacific Coast 
Borax Company: controlling factor in 
the Oakland Traction Company and San 
Francisco, Oakland and San Jose Consoli- 
dated Railway Company. 




First National BA^fK 



101 




First National Bank 



e- ^ 



HE First National Bank of 
Oakland is one of the oldest 
and most substantial institu- 
tions in Alameda County, 
dating its origin to a time 
when the city of Oakland was a mere 
country village of scarcely more than 
20,000 inhabitants. The growth of the 
bank has been coincident with the growth 
of the city, and it has aided many of the 
largest concerns in Alameda County to 
advance from small beginnings to their 
present positions of prominence. 



The building now occupied by the bank 
was the pioneer in concrete construction 
in the city, and was the forerunner of 
many splendid ofifice buildings now in 
tirocess of erection or in contemplation. 
The bank enjoys a surpassing advantage 
of location, being at the intersection of 
San Pablo Avenue, Broadway and Four- 
teenth Street — the junction of three great 
arteries of traflfic. 

Believing that the function of the mod- 
ern bank is to supply any banking need 
that any customer may possibly desire, 



102 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




First National Bank 



103 



the First National Bank lias provitled a ihat institution has been remarkable. Its 

fine and up-to date safe deposit depart- deposits have risen to a total of more 

ment, in which boxes for the keeping of than $2,000,000, and the bank is constantly 

valuable papers, jewelry and other things expanding its resources and widening its 

may be rented at a low price. The safe sphere of influence. The First Trust and 

deposit vaults are unique in being situated Savings Bank, while conducted as a sep- 

on the street floor, so that customers are arate institution, is owned by the stock- 




not obliged to climb stairs in reaching 
their boxes. A storage vault in the base- 
ment provides facilities for the safekeep- 
ing of rugs, silverware, fine paintings and 
other valuables of a bulky nature. 

Three years ago the First Trust and Sav- 
ings Bank was organized and the success of 



holders of the First National Bank, and 
its directors are identical with those of the 
parent institution. 

The officers are: P. E. Bowles, presi- 
dent; Geo. D. Metcalf, vice-president; O. 
D. Jacoby, cashier. 

The directors of both banks are as fol- 



104 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Interior View o 



First National Bank 



105 



r' 



V 




'irst National Bank 



106 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




First National Bank 



107 



lows: L. C. Morehouse, A. L. Stone, 
H. C. Morris, E. A. Heron, W. H. Taylor, 
L. G. Burpee, E. W. Runyon, P. E. Bowles 
and Geo. D. Metcalf. 

The First National Bank of Oakland be- 
gan its existence in 1874, and was the 



United States — eight in California and one 
in Boston. A peculiarity of the gold 
banks was that they were permitted to 
take out circulation redeemable in gold 
coin by the deposit of United States 
bonds bearing interest payable in gold. 




outgrowth of the Alameda County Savings 
and Loan Society. In 1875 the bank was 
reorganized under the national system as 
the First National Gold Bank of Oakland. 
This was one of the few gold banks cre- 
ated, there being only nine in the entire 



AH of the other national banks in the 
United States at that time were making 
no attempt to redeem their currency in 
gold, and consequently all currency was 
depreciating and could be exchanged for 
gold only at a great discount. 



103 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




First National Bank 



109 




I,adies' Department 



After ihe government resumed specie 
payments, thereby restoring greenbacks to 
a parity with gold, there was no longer 
any reason for the special character of the 
gold banks, and they became like other 
national banks. Consequently, in 1880, 
the word "Gold" was dropped from the 
title of the "First National Gold Bank of 
Oakland," and thereafter it was known 
simply as the First National Bank of Oak- 
land. 

The present management took control of 
the bank in 1893, when G. W. McNear be- 
came president and P. E. Bowles vice- 



president. Three years later Mr. Bowles 
was elected president, which position he 
has retained ever since that time. The 
other officials of the bank are: L. G. 
Burpee, vice-president; L. C. Morehouse, 
vice-president; E. N. Walter, cashier; S. 
H. Kitto, C. N. Walter and Irving H. San- 
born, assistant cashiers. 

The capital and surplus of the First 
National Bank are $605,000, and its total 
resources are more than $4,000,000. The 
First Trust and Savings Bank has a capi- 
tal of $300,000. 



110 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




State Savings Bank 



111. 



State Savings Bank 





^■K'^=^^ 




i 


1 



HE State Savings Bank was 
organized under the name 
of the Dwight Way Loan 
and Investment Company in 
March, 1893, in compliance 
with the laws governing savings banks. 
Their first place of business was in Berke- 
ley, California. In 1894 their principal 
place of business was changed to Oak- 
land, and the name was correspondingly 
■changed to Oakland Loan and Investment 
•Company. The final change of name to 
State Savings Bank was made in 1899. 

The business of this bank started in 
very primitive surroundings, and there 
•was not the least attempt at appearances, 
the organizers originally having in mind 
only the handling of the paid up capital 
stock of the institution. As will be well 
remembered, in 1893, and for several 
years, the financial conditions were any- 
thing but promising for a new institu- 
tion. Money was very scarce, and there 
was little opportunity for securing out- 
side capital for any kind of investment, 
to say nothing of the chances for a 
bank to secure new deposits. The 
watchword of the officers was to keep 
expenses down and make a profit for 
the stockholders, and they now often 
refer to the fact that the State Savings 
Bank paid at least seven per cent divi- 
dends to its stockholders from the date 



of their original certificates of stock. 
For the first few years the total ex- 
pense of running the corporation did not 
exceed one hundred dollars a month. 

After moving from Berkeley a loca- 
tion was secured at 1008 Broadway. Later 
their offices were moved to 480 Tenth 
Street, and in 1898, a building was erect- 
ed for them at 426 Tenth Street, where 
they remained for five years. At the end 
of that time the property they now oc- 
cupy at the northwest corner of Thir- 
teenth and Franklin Streets was pur- 
chased by the bank, and remodeled to 
suit its convenience. 

Mr. V. D. Moody, who for many 
years was president of the First Na- 
tional Bank of Oakland, and one of the 
organizers of the Central Bank, Oakland, 
was also one of the largesi subscribers 
to the capital stock. His son, W. C. 
Moody, was also one of the original sub- 
scribers, and succeeded his father in the 
directorate, which office he held up to 
the time of his death in March, 1910. 

J. C. McMullen, who was the organ- 
izer of the State Savings Bank, has been 
in the banking business since 1870, hav- 
ing been president of the Winfield Na- 
tional Bank up to 1887, at which time 
be moved to California, and after thor- 
ough investigation of the possibilities of 
a banking institution around the bay, 



112 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




State Savings Bank 



113 



decided upon the organization of this 
corporation. From the date of its char- 
ter, he has given the bank his undivided 
attention, and its present condition as to 
deposits and surplus is largely due to his 
individual attention and untiring energy 
in its behalf, it being a well-known fact 
that his every act, even to the purchase 
of the most trivial articles, was with a 
view to the best interests of the institution 
he was building up. 

This bank is one of the few banking 
institutions which have from the date 
of their incorporation guaranteed a def- 
inite rate of interest to their savings de- 
positors, and at no time has this rate 
been less than four per cent. Notwith- 
standing this liberal rate paid to their 
savings depositors, the bank has accu- 
mulated a surplus nearly one and one- 



half times the amount of its capital. 
Since the beginning their loans have been 
made entirely on real estate security; and 
in all ways they have conducted their 
business on the lines of a savings bank 
only, no effort having been made to se- 
cure anything except savings deposits, 
and in no event catering to commercial 
depositors who would naturally at times 
require personal accommodation without 
giving real estate security. This line of 
work is naturally less remunerative, but 
at the same time contains less elements 
of risk, as is evidenced by the miniiTium 
amount of loss sustained by the bank, and 
the extremely small portion of its money 
now invested in real estate, and the $136,- 
000 of dividends paid to its stockholders, 
together with the $130,000 now carried 
in the surplus account. 





Oakland Bank of Savings 



Oakland Bank of Savings 



Oakland Bank of Savings 




HE Oakland Bank of Sav- 
ings, being the oldest and 
largest bank in Alameda 
County, its history is chief- 
ly an epitome of the growth 
and financial development of Oakland. 

The Oakland Bank of Savings was or- 
ganized August 13, 1867, with a capital 
stock of $150,000, which in 1869 was in- 
creased to $300,000, and in 1871 to 
$1,000,000. In January of this year the 
Oakland Bank of Savings took over the 
business and assets of the Bankers Trust 
Company of Oakland, California, at which 
time its capital stock was increased to 
$1,150,000. The last published statement 
of the bank shows aggregate deposits of 
$19,610,794.73 and total resources of $21,- 
586,506.89. 

The control of the bank has always 
been in strong hands, and the manage- 
ment has practically remained unchanged 
during a long series of years, during 
which time the Oakland Bank of Savings 
has grown and prospered and at all times 
has been considered a model of stability 
«ind intelligent management. 

The bank began business in a small 
brick building at Broadway and Ninth 
Street but moved to its present location 



about January, 1871, and since then the 
rapid increase of its business has four 
times necessitated the enlargement of its 
banking quarters, the last resulting in the 
present magnificent structure which it now 
occupies. 

The Oakland Bank of Savings build- 
ing is a structure of which Oakland may 
well be proud. According to eminent 
architects and engineers who have visited 
the coast to study the class of buildings 
erected since the earthquake and fire, it 
is considered one of the best constructed 
buildings in the United States. 

Situated at the northeast corner of 
Broadway and Twelfth Street, the main 
transfer point of the city, the Oakland 
Bank of Savings is in the very center of 
the retail district and of convenient access 
to all interurban car lines. 

The material and workmanship enter- 
ing into the construction and the finish 
of the structure are of the best that the 
resources of this country could produce. 
The fact that the bank was not obligated 
to move from its quarters during the 
wrecking of the old three-story building, 
which was badly damaged by the earth- 
quake of 1906, and the erection of the 
eigrhf.ctory steel frame, was a marvel to 



116 



Greater Oakland, 19M 




Oakland Bank of Savings 



117 




ns 



Greater Oakland, J 9 II 



many. The massive vaults remained un- 
disturbed, while hardly a desk in the 
banking room was moved until four 
months before the completion of the 
building. Meanwhile, great foundations 
were put in place, steel work was set 
and connections riveted over, under and 
around the banking room. Even the ce- 
ment flooring was laid down without dis- 
turbing the wooden floor which it supplants. 
The exterior of the building, which is 



of most effectively housing a great modern bank. 

The offices on the upper floor are 
unusually bright, large and airy and are 
equipped with every modern convenience 
such as electric and gas light, steam heat, 
hot and cold water, vacuum cleaner, com- 
pressed air, power wiring for doctor's use, 
special plumbing for dentists fireproof cabi- 
nets an ] vaults and stationary wash stands. 

There are eleven members of the 
Board of Directors of the Oakland Bank 





jf 3fc»—»«»— Ji ll iii n iii iiiwiOK**— iiw ■ *■ > 'iw ' *» 



Interior View, Oakland Bank of Savings 



beautiful on account of its classic simplicity. 
is of white California granite to the second 
story, with buff pressed Roman brick 
above that. This finish, with its tall, 
grilled windows and heavy bronze doors, 
not only gives the structure the appear- 
ance of strength and solidity, but helps 
to create it. The whole impression of 
the exterior is one of refined and digni- 
fied strength, molded to the single purpose 



of Savings: W. W. Garth waite, president; 
W. B. Dunning and Henry Rogers, vice- 
presidents; J. Y. Eccleston, cashier and 
secretary; and Messrs. M. L. Requa, 
George H. Collins. Horace Davis, Arthur 
H. Breed, James K. Moffitt. A. Borland 
and J. P. Edoff. Samuel Breck, F. A. 
Allardt and Leslie F. Rice are the assist- 
ant cashiers, and J. A. Thomson and A. E. 
Caldwell are the assistant secretaries. 



Oakland Bank of Savings 



119 




120 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Harbor Bank 




RGANIZED March 24, 1907, 
this bank has been built 
up by its officers and di- 
rectors to a position where 
it commands the absolute 
of the business community, 
yet conservative policy inau- 
gurated by its first president, F. W. Bil- 
ger, has been maintained under the di- 
rection of H. C. Spaulding, who has been 
president during the years 1910 and 1911. 
The other officers are as. follows: A. Ken- 
dall, A. A. Busey and A. G. Taft, vice- 
presidents; C. C. Spaulding, secretary and 
cashier; P. G. Jacobus, Jr., assistant cashier; 
the other directors are Hon. George Sam- 
uels, Emil Lehnhardt, C. W. Haines, C. A. 
Young, A. J. Patterson and T. P. Frost. 



In keeping with its general progres- 
siveness the bank will soon announce the 
possession of a more modern banking 
room and equipment in a more central 
location, and a substantial increase in its 
capital stock is also contemplated. 

Being a new institution, there is not 
a great deal of historical value which is 
of interest at this time, but the fact that 
the number of commercial accounts have 
doubled the past year and the savings 
department has made a gain of 50 per 
cent the past few months clearly demon- 
strates that past performance and pres- 
ent service is appreciated by the business 
community and that history is being made 
for a greater bank of the future. 



Italian Popular Bank 



131 




122 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Italian Popular Bank 



This bank opened for business on the 1st 
of January, 1907, Cav. Uff. J. F. Fugazi, its 
president, and F. N. Belgrano, its vice-presi- 
dent, two most capable financiers and the 
oldest Italian bankers on the Pacific Coast, 
being the organizers. 

The bank was opened in San Francisco 
but a few months when its president and 
vice-president, foreseeing the great commer- 



Italian Popular Bank, both in our city and in 
San Francisco, has been one of the few finan- 
cial institutions that during the great mone- 
tary crisis paid their depositors in gold coin, 
and no restriction has even been put on their 
withdrawals. 

The following are the facts and figures of 
the growth and financial strength of this 
young but powerful institution: 




G. GHIGLIERI 
Manager Italian Popular Bank 



cial opportunities that were in store for Oak- 
land, established a branch in this city, its 
management being entrusted to G. Ghiglieri 
as manager and Ant. Friant as cashier. 
Through the efforts and ability of these two 
gentlemen the new bank has forged ahead 
of all the younger banking institutions es- 
tablished in our city after the great catas- 
trophe. It is worthy of mention that the 



December lit, 1907 ■..$ 995,606.37 

Decemlicr :U, 1908 1,237,902.89 

December 31, 1909- 1,779,977.31 

December 31, 1910 2.398,640.59 

June 30, 1911 2,711,643.31 

The directors are J. F. Fugazi, George M. 
Ferine, F. N. Belgrano, Charles Soracco, 
Dr. C. Barsotti, Ant. Laiolo and G. Ghiglieri. 



Italian Popular Bank 



123 




ANT. FRIANT 
Cashier of Italian Popular Bank 



124 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Alameda County Building and Loan 
Association 



One of the oldest building and loan asso- 
ciations in the city is the Alameda County 
Loan Association, located at Sixteenth and 
Clay Streets, the compau}- having been do- 
ing business for the past thirty-seven years. 

In this time it has paid to its investors 
for matured installment stock the sum of 
$1,480,395 in cash promptly when due. It 
has furnished the money to build over seven 
hundred homes in Alameda County. 

It owns and has its offices in a fine build- 
ing at the corner of Sixteenth and Clav 



Streets, Oakland. The company has earned 
the reputation of handling savings in a care- 
ful and accommodating manner, in amounts 
ranging from $1 per month to $10,000. 

The officers are: C. C. Volberg, presi- 
dent ; J. Tyrrel, vice-president ; Charles P. 
Hoag. secretary ; H. L. Kruger, assistant 
secretarjs Daniel Meyer, treasurer, and J. 
B. Richardson, counsel. The directors are 
J. Tyrrel, Henry Danker, Henry Mohns, D. 
Muller, H. C. Hacke, C. C. Volberg, F. H. 
Clark, J. S. Burpee and C. P. Hoag. 



Alameda Co. Building and Loan Associatioi 



125 




Alameda County Building and I,oan Association 



126 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




New Security Bank and Trust Company in course of construction at Eleventh and Broadway. Oakland 



Oakland — Its Future 



127 



Oakland — Its Future 

City Is Being Builded and Developed To Embrace the Great Commercial 
Future Promised by Union of Rail and Ship 

By Ma^or Frank ^- ^ott 




N THE story of the j-ears, 
1911 will have its place as 
that moment in which the 
destiny of Oakland as a 
great commercial city stood 
revealed to all her people. Prophetic vision 
was required a decade ago to see the achieve- 
ments of today in the promise of 1912. But 
the dream of the seer is not necessary today 
to forecast Oakland's future. It is an open 
book in which all may read. 

Every city symbolizes in concrete form 
some great idea. Oakland has been called 
the Athens of the West. She might equal- 
ly well have been called the Carthage of 
the Pacific, for her commercial destiny is 
no less assured than her cultural su- 
premacy. 

It is better today that we should forge 
out a future that does not look to the 
past for a counterpart. Oakland is upon 
the threshold of her greatness, and that 
idea which she is to symbolize in the con- 
crete achievement of the future is striving 
for full expression in the work of our 
hands today. It is todaj- that we dare 
put that idea into words. It is today that 
we may declare that Oakland shall stand 
as the symbol of something different 
from the achievements of the past, and 
worthier than the mere examples of a 
bygone age. 

Era of Unexcelled Prosperity. 

Oakland shall symbolize the union of 
commerce and culture. Her work shall 
be the expression of a new ideal, the 
ideal of a great modern city. This city 
is entering upon an era of unparalleled 
prosperity. The wonderful growth of the 
sister cities, Liverpool and Manchester, 



as industrial and commercial hives of 
toil, is destined to be repeated. But the 
commercial step is not to be taken here 
without due thought to the guarding of 
the city from falling into the reckless 
pursuit of an exclusively business pur- 
pose. 

The destiny of the city is apparent to- 
day. It becomes successively clearer as 
month follows month that a great future 
was inevitable for a city situated as this 
city is situated, but it is only now that 
we are sure of our place and our future, 
and stand ready with the faith to grasp 
the opportunities that are presented to 
us. 

The commercial aspect of the case is 
expressed in the significant terms rapid 
transportation and the union of rail and 
ship. It is also expressed in a topo- 
graphical way which shows three, and 
perhaps four, great transcontinental lines 
centering in Oakland, and half a dozen 
smaller lines feeding into this city from 
a magnificent back country and making 
this city a distributing point. 

Terminal of Three Big Railroads. 

The fact that Oakland is the terminal 
for at least three of the great transcon- 
tinental paths of steel and steam assures 
her prosperity in itself, but there is an- 
other factor that is of no less moment. 
This is the possession of the most su- 
perb harbor in America, a harbor upon 
the ocean that is marked as the theater 
of trade for the present century. 

The Orient is at the very door of Oak- 
land, and by the opening of the Panama 
canal, the great Pacific is yoked with the 
Atlantic to bear the burdens of a world 



128 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



commerce. Oakland stands in the stra- 
tegic position to make the most of tliat 
world commerce. 

That her citizens have grasped the 
possibilities of this municipality is evi- 
denced by the unanimous favor with 
which the harbor bond proposition was 
met. Oakland as a municipality stands 
committed to the project of harbor de- 
velopment, a project that entails the ulti- 



within a radius of ten miles of the City 
Hall. 

It may be well to justify this statement 
by pointing out a few significant items in 
this hundred million dollar bill. 

Twenty-five Miles of Waterfront. 

Oakland has twenty-five miles of water- 
front, the clearance of the title to which 
has been finally attained in the year 




Broadway, Oakland, in the Early Days, now the Heart of the Husiness District 



mate expenditure of no less than $25,- 
000,000. 

But the masters of finance have been 
beforehand in estimating the promise of 
an unequaled location. It is not an idle 
boast, but a matter of cold figures that 
Oakland is to be the distributing point in 
not more than a decade in the expendi- 
ture on a conservative estimate of $100,- 
000,000 in improvements, improvements 
that will attest the foresight of man 



1910 after almost half a century of war- 
fare. This waterfront is an asset for 
commercial and industrial purposes. 

Upon harbor improvement the munici- 
pality will spend in the immediate future 
$2,500,000, provision for which has already 
been made. But the waterfront develop- 
ment in any adequate form will require at 
least $25,000,000. The federal government 
will aid with an appropriation approximat- 
ing $1,000,000. 



Oakland — Its Future 



129 



This gives promise of a great harbor, 
with docks and wharves and shipping fa- 
cilities of the highest order. A belt line 
railroad, assuring cheap transportation, is 
a part of the project. We have at present 
many acres of unimproved land on the 
waterfront, giving the opportunity for the 
establishment of great factories. The 
dredging of the Key Route basin and 



front, and the Southern Pacific is to 
spend a large amount on the similar wa- 
terfront franchise. 

Extensive Suburban Lines. 

In bringing the bay cities into the clos- 
est communion of interest and sympathy 
through the miracles of rapid transit, the 
Southern Pacific has outlined a loop elet- 




Broadway, Oakland 



creating of that part of the great harbor 
will give the city over 400 acres more 
land of the most valuable waterfront sec 
tion in the city. 

In co-operating with the city in the 
development of the Key Route basin the 
San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose 
railroad, better known as the Key Route, 
proposes to expend $5,000,000. The West- 
ern Pacific has promised several millions 
in developing the franchise recently 
granted that corporation on the water- 



trie system of suburban lines, gridironing 
this city and its environs, to cost $10,- 
500.000. 

Added to these there is the prospect of the 
coming of the Great Northern, and the ab- 
solute surety of the opening up of the terri- 
tory back of the hills by the Oakland and 
Antioch Railroad. Unheralded and almost 
unnoted, this company, backed in a measure 
by Eastern capital, has laid its plans to bring 
the back country into close touch with Oak- 
land by means of an electric freight and pas- 



130 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



senger line through the Tunnel Road. Rails 
are already laid from Antioch to Bay Point, 
and rights of way have been obtained from 
Bay Point to Lafayette. The company plans 
to spend at least $1,000,000 in bringing the 
road into Oakland. 

So much for transportation. Extension 
and renewal of the water supply system is 
a positive necessity within a few years, and, 
by whomsoever financed, this will represent 
an expenditure of not less than $4,000,000 
or $5,000,000. We have also to consider the 
building operations, including the $1,000,000 



the investment of capital amounting to $100,- 
000,000. 

This is in some measure an estimate of the 
commercial future of the city. This year 
has made possible such a forecast, but it has 
also made possible a prophecy concerning 
the cultural promise of the coming decade. 
The passage of a charter this year embody- 
ing the most enlightened principles of munic 
ipal government has made possible not only 
the placing of the administration upon a 
better business basis, but also the orderly 
pursuit of those branches of civil polity so 




Oakland in 1860 



City Hall and the Bankers' Hotel for a like 
sum. A number of other buildings, among 
them H. C. Capwell's new structure, the Se- 
curity Bank and Trust skyscraper for Elev- 
enth and Broadway, the Realty Syndicate, 
and several others, will bring another $1,- 
000,000 to help in the grand total. 

Immense Building Record. 

Building operations in the city for the past 
twelve months, up to 1911, have represented 
over $6,000,000. It is unthinkable that this 
will not be increased during the coming years, 
making assurance doubly sure in forecasting 



dear to the heart of the theorist and re- 
former. Parks and playgrounds, museums, 
schools and public gathering places are her- 
alded in the progressive spirit of the new 
charter and in the continuance of those pro 
jects for civic beautification and cultural im- 
provement which have been initiated in the 
past year. 

With these clear prospects for progress 
and prosperity, for the creation of a clean 
and cultured community, supported and 
broadened in its import and its interest by 
commerce in the affairs of the world, Oak- 
land bids its welcome to the year 1912. 



Oakland — Its Future 



131 



City Meets All Modern Requirements 

New Administration Buildings, Up-to-Date and Scientific Streets and 

Other Permanent Additions Under Way to Complete 

Scheme of a Model City 




HE history of the current fiscal 
3'ear will be no less remark- 
able because of the large ex- 
penditures and gigantic activi- 
ties provided for by the $3,- 
500,000 bond issue of last year, than because 
of the expenditures extraordinary provided 
for in the regular municipal budget. Oakland 
citizens, gazing upon the work under way, 
the results achieved, and the tasks outlined 
by the present city administration, return to 
their personal affairs with the sure satisfac- 
tion that they are "getting their money's 
worth" out of the money paid to the city 
in taxes, whatever may become of that paid 
out to the State and county. 

With the opening of the new year, the 
city sees work under way along the water 
front, in the heart of the city in the form 
of the new City Hall, and in every section 
of the municipality taking shape in streets, 
fire houses, school houses, increased street 
lighting and additional parks and play- 
grounds. Much of this has been provided for 
by the bond issues, but in addition to this 
the tax levy proper carries a host of im- 
provements not included in regular mainte 
nance that will be permanent betterments in 
the community. 

Waterfront Improvements. 

In addition to the achievements provided 
for in the bond issues, and now under way 
in the form of the creation of a great har- 
bor in the Key Route basin and another in 
the estuary, in the building of a great mu- 
nicipal edifice, in the purchase and beautifi- 



cation of a chain of parks that will make 
Oakland second to no city in the United 
States in this regard, the city administration 
has undertaken a number of betterments to 
be put through this year for the permanent 
improvement of the community, provided for 
out of the general tax levy, and made pos- 
sible only by the heroic determination of the 
present city administration to leave behind 
it solid monuments to bear witness to its 
devotion to the great city now in the making. 
These betterments were made possible by 
an increase in the tax rate by 8 cents. This 
increase covers in part the increase in the 
running expenses of the city, made necessary 
to meet bond interest and redemption fund, 
occasioned by the recent bond issue, but also 
provides for betterments pledged to the citi- 
zens by the council and Mayor Mott. It 
also provides for the expenses incidental to 
the framing of a new city charter. 

Is Remarkable Financiering, 

According to City Auditor George E. 
Gross, the setting aside in the municipal 
budget of sums aggregating $347,975 for per- 
manent betterments and expenditures extra 
ordinary is a remarkable achievement, not 
paralleled in any other city on the Pacific 
Coast, and not paralleled in any city in the 
United States of the same size. The annual 
budget has provided revenues amounting in 
the gross to $1,745,800. Of this the follow- 
ing sums have been set aside for improve- 
ments not included under running expense 
or maintenance : 



132 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Storm sewers $ 35,000 

Culverts 10,000 

Sewers 17,000 

Street Work — Twelfth Street dam. 
East Eleventh Street extension, 
Broadway and Webster Street 
crossing, East Fourteenth Street 
asphalt crossings, Second Street 

brick pavement 33,000 

High pressure salt water system.... 25,000 

Street openings 2,650 

Partial payment on Merritt property 

(at Willows) 20,000 

Partial payment on Mosswood Park. 20,000 
Annual payment on Adams property. 

Thirteenth and Oak Streets 17,250 

New Fire Houses — 



Tliirtccnth Avenue and Hopkins 

Street 13,000 

Elmhurst 13,000 

Dover Street 6,075 

Lot in Alameda for fire house 1,500 

Lot on Chestnut Street for fire house 2,000 

New fire apparatus 34,500 

New police officers (20 men to be ap- 
pointed) 12,000 

Automobile for police department... 3,500 

Advertising new charter 21,000 

Charter elections 12,000 

Freeholders 3,000 

Dredging estuary 6,500 

Firemen, annex (1909), and perma- 
nent houses 40,000 



Total 



.$347,975 




134 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




JuDSON Manufacturing Co. 



135 





136 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Judson Manufaduring Company 



When H. J. Sadler, the young vice-presi- 
dent of the Judson Manufacturing Company 
courteously permitted the writer to look over 
the immense plant of the company at Emer}'- 
ville in gathering material for this volume, 
the writer's respect for the city of Oakland, 
as a manufacturing center, was decidedly in- 
creased. 



tributed nearly $500,000 every year in pay- 
rolls alone. 

The company is now in a position to do 
almost any work related to iron and steel, 
from turning out twisted steel bars for re- 
enforced concrete walls to the heaviest struc- 
tural steel for building purposes. Among 
the more important work done by this con- 




Rolling Mill 



The Judson Manufacturing Company is 
purely a local concern, and by virtue of its 
location here gives to Oakland the distinction 
of having the largest rolling mill and struc 
tural steel works on the Pacific Coast. The 
plant covers about forty-five acres of ground 
and employs something like 450 men. As a 
result of its operations here there is dis- 



cern was the furnishing of all the structural 
steel for Capwell's new building, the Bacon 
Building, Oakland Bank of Savings Building, 
Central Bank Building, Y. M. C. A Build- 
ing, Heeseman's and many other equally im- 
portant structures. They will furnish the 
steel for the new City Hall, which is the 
largest steel contract ever let in the West. 



JuDSON Manufacturing Co. 



137 




Rolliug Mill 




Rock Screens 



138 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Judson'^Manufacturiug Co. 
Rock! Screen 



Jiulsoti Manufacturing Co. 
MachiTie Shop 




JuDSON Manufacturing Co. 



139 



The company is now spciuiing about $30,- 
000 in enlarging their steel shop, which work 
is going on without interfering with the 
execution of the large number of orders con- 
stantly coming in. 



moulds. Ihe concern has its own spacious 
carpenter shop where patterns for castings 
are made and other woodwork is done. 

The officers of the corporation are : H. E. 
Botliin, president; H. J. Sadler, vicepresi- 












vIKii 



structural Shop 



The big plant is operated on broad lines; 
every department and building on the forty- 
five acres is connected with a railroad, over 
which push cars are operated in order to 
convey heavy material with speed and fa- 
cility. The most modern equipment, includ- 
ing traveling cranes, compressed air plant 
and various devices for the manipulation of 
steel and iron are found in the diflferent 
shops. One of the features of the plant is 
a machine for punching dredger screens tc> 
any desired mesh, which was invented and 
manufactured right on the ground. Tlie 
company has made a specialty of manufac- 
turing dredgers and has done considerable 
work in that line for years past. Anothei 
big end of the business is the nut and bolt 
shop, excellently equipped and capalile of 
turning out almost any size of nuts and 
bolts. 

In the foundry all sorts of castings arc 
turned out. from il:c lightest to the heaviest 



dent; J. D. Osborne, secretary, and F. D. 
Parsons, manager of the works. 




structural Shop 



Assuredly the Judson Manufacturing Com- 
pany has been a most important factor in 
bringing about a prosperous Oakland. 



X40 



Greater Oakland, 19IJ 




W. B. STRAUB 

President and General Manager 
Empire Foundry Co. 



Empire Foundry Co. 



141 



Empire Foundry Co. 



In selecting the concerns that have been 
factors in the prosperity of Oakland this vol- 
ume would be incomplete without mentiort 
of the Empire Foundry Company. 

Mid the pounding of hammers and the 
clashing of metal the interviewer found the 
busy young president in his office adjoining 
the foundry, and the din was so terrific he 
had some difficulty in making his wants 
known. There was some further difficulty 
in securing the desired material for this art 
icle, as Mr. Straub is disinclined to talk for 
publication. He was, however, finally induced 
to further the cause by giving a brief history 
of the concern and his connection with it. 

Mr. Straub, who is now and always has 
been the active manager of the concern as 
well as its present president, hails from the 
Buckeye State, having formerly lived in 
Columbus, Ohio, and later in Minneapolis, 
Minn. During the financial panic of 1894 he 
decided to seek his fortune in the goldfields 
of Alaska. On his way there it occurred to 
him that it would be a good idea to look over 
the Coast country, including San Francisco 
and Oakland. In doing this he was so im- 
pressed with the opportunities presented in 
this city that he abandoned his Northern trip 
and decided to make Oakland the scene of his 
future endeavors. It looks now as though he 
has no cause to regret his decision. 

About eight years ago Mr. Straub estab- 
lished the business in a little shop of his 
own. It was not all smooth sailing by any 
means. Competition was keen, money was 
scarce, and he had to hold his own against 
large corporations with plenty of capital. 
Against these odds he secured enough busi- 
ness to remain in the field, and as a reward, 
which is usual when the qualities of energy. 



integrity and tenacity of purpose are pres- 
ent, his business began to increase. 

In 1906 he found it advisable to incorpo- 
rate the present company to handle the in- 
creasing business. The headquarters of the 
concern were then located at Third and 
Washington Streets. When the Western Pa- 
cific came into Oakland the company sold its 
lease to the railroad at a profitable figure. 
Two years ago the company purchased the 
present plant and owns the ground it stands 
on, at 433-435 Third Street. 

The Empire Foundry carries on a big 
general foundry business, manufacturing all 
kinds of castings for machinery, mining tools, 
street castings, etc. They are manufacturers 
of various hardware equipment, builders' 
supplies, and a particular feature of their 
business is the manufacture of iron mantle 
grates. 

The Empire Foundry Company employs 
some thirty-five men and pays out about 
$25,000 in wages every year, which, of 
course, adds to the general prosperity of 
Oakland. 

The officers of the company are : W. B. 
Straub, president and manager; H. L. Crow, 
vice-president; O. P. Nauert, secretary, and 
the Harbor Bank acts as treasurer of thv; 
corporation. 

Mr. Straub organized the Straub Manufac- 
turing Company about a year and a half 
ago, of which he is president, and which 
makes a specialty of manufacturing mining 
machinery, crushing and grinding mills. This 
company is also equipped to manufacture 
complete dredgers, having done consider- 
able work for the J. S. Kimball Company 
and other operators in Nome, Alaska. 



142 



Greater Oakland, I'JIl 



•r.'.' 






-•m 





\ \ 




Western Paper Box Co. 



14;{ 



We^ern Paper Box Company 



One of the biggest institutions on this 
side of the Bay, and in which the city may 
well take pride, is the Western Paper 
Box Company, occupying the spacious con- 
crete structure on the Southwest Corner 
of Fifth and Adeline Streets. 

This concern was established in San 
Francisco a good many years ago, but 
its plant, like many others was wiped out 
in the fire of 1906. A good example 
of the energy and spirit with which the 
executives of this concern overcome diffi- 
cutlies is shown, when it is stated that 
in less than one month after the entire 
plant had been destroyed, the company 
had re-established itself in Oakland, and 
were ready for business. 

The Western Paper Box Company manu- 
facture a greater variety of packages, and 
do a larger business by far, than any 
other concern of its kind on the Pacific 
Coast. They turn out anything from 
a tiny pill or jewelry box, to a robe-box, 
or a millinery box, big enough to hold the 
latest elephantine creations worn by thr 
fair sex, with all the intermediate varieties 
of candy boxes, cartons, dry goods pack- 
ages etc. When President Kewell was 
asked by the interviewer to give an idea 
of just how many boxes or packages the 
company turned out in a year, he smiled 
at this somewhat difficult question, but we 
figure it must run well up into the hun- 
dreds of thousands. 



Mr, Fred W. Kewell who is not only 
President, but the active head manager 
of the concern is entitled to great credit, 
not only for the important part he has 
played in building up an industrial insti- 
tution that is known all over the West, 
and whose business is increasing all the 
time, but also because of the thorough 
system and perfect organization he has 
introduced as manager of the company. 

There are one hundred and twenty-five 
employees and each one knows his partic- 
ular work and does it; there is no con- 
fusion because there is perfect system 
everywhere, and an enormous amount of 
work is done with little or no friction. 

The plant and general office of the 
company occupies a splendid and sub- 
stantial structure four stories in height, 
The factory is equipped with the most 
modern machinery and labor saving de- 
vices. The building itself is of an up-to- 
date type and there is plenty of light and 
excellent ventilation; clean and sanitary 
conditions prevail throughout the big 
building. 

The Western Paper Box Company em- 
ploys a big force, and the annual pay-roll 
is now nearing the $100,000 mark. These 
are the kind of business institutions that 
possess marked solidity, and that make for 
the permanent prosperity of the common- 
wealth. 



144 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



i 
1 




r4 


r 












Western Paper Box Co. 



145 




Interior Views of the 

Western Paper Box Co.'s Factory 

Oakland, California 






146 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Plant of Pacific Manifolding Book Company, Emeryville 



Pacific Manifolding Book Company 



When the interviewer called at the plant 
of the Pacific Manifolding Book Company 
for the purpose of gathering material for 
this book and was permitted to look over 
the immense plant of the Company at 
Emeryville, he was particularly impressed 
by the gigantic proportions to which the 
concern had grown, it having been only 
seven years since the company was estab- 
lished in very modest quarterts in Oakland, 
and began the business of manufacturing 
sales books. The fact that it has developed 
into the second largest concern of its kind 
in the United States indicates a class of 
business management and enterprise not 
often encountered. 

The Pacific Manifolding Book Company 
is engaged in the manufacture of sales check 



books, and their goods are in us6 by nearly 
all merchants throughout the entire West. 
Perhaps some of you do not understand 
precisely the nature of this product, and to 
such we make the following explanation. 

Upon making a purchase in a store, 
whether it be a dry goods store, a grocery 
store or meat market or any other retail 
store, the clerk almost invariably hands you 
a sales slip indicating goods purchased and 
the prices. This, in case of a cash sale, 
acts as a receipt for the money paid and 
gives the merchant a duplicate copy for a 
check upon his business. In case of a charge 
sale it acts as your bill and the accounting 
of the store is done from the duplicate 
copy. 

The Company makes and sells TWELVE 



Pacific Manifolding Book Co. 



147 



MILLION of these books every year with 
the word "Oakland" in their imprint, which 
means that the name of "Oakland" is print- 
ed and scattered broadcast throughout the 
West SIX HUNDRED MILLION times 
annually. Think it over in the light of an 
advertisement for Oakland. 

But retail stores are not the only cus- 
tomers of the Pacific Manifolding Book 
Company. Their salesmen have made a 
study of the requirements of other lines of 
business, and as a result almost every line 
of business imaginable is now using sales 
check books of some description. Their 
salesmen cover all the territory west of the 
Rocky Mountains, and have been enabled to 
get the business away from Eastern com- 
petition almost entirely, from the fact that 
there is no sales book company in the United 
States who turn out as great a number of 
styles of sales books, and that the quality 
of their work is second to none. To ac- 
complish this, the Company has been far- 
sighted enough to invest a fortune in the 
best and most up-to-date equipment possi- 
ble to obtain. 

We also find that the Company builds a 
great many of its own machines to specifi- 
cations which have originated in their own 
factory for shortening the work and im- 
proving the quality of it. Thus giving to 
the City of Oakland the proud distinction 
of being the only Western city where print- 
ing presses are manufactured. 

The business has had a healthy and 
steady growth so that the general offices 
and works of the Company now occupy an 
entire city block and the Company has re- 
cently purchased an adjoining block upon 
which they are to build an annex to the 
present plant, which will be constructed of 
brick and concrete. The town of Emery- 
ville has closed up one of its streets in 
order to give the concern a lot 460x250 
feet in size for its operations. 

Several years ago the Company estab- 
lished a new department for the printing 
of street car transfers; they now have mod- 
ern machines that are capable of printing 
six million transfers per day and have se- 
cured the business of the United Railways 
of San Francisco, the San Jose Railways 



and the Tacoma Light & Power Company. 

Another new department that has recent- 
ly been established is the introduction into 
the Western States of the American Ac- 
count Register, one of the most unique and 
invaluable accounting devices for the use 
of the retail merchant ever invented. It is 
expected that this branch of the business 
will develop so rapidly, that it will soon 
be necessary to build these registers in 
Oakland, and when this comes to pass, it 
will mean the investment of considerable 
capital and will furnish employment to many 
people. The success of these registers in 
the East has been so great that the facto- 
ries there are taxed to the utmost in fill- 
ing orders, and no doubt Oakland will soon 
become an important manufacturing and 
distributing point for these machines. 

The Pacific Manifolding Book Company 
at present gives employment to about two 
hundred people and the annual pay roll 
amounts to over $150,000, thus you will see 
that through the medium of their branch 
offices, their salesmen and the mail, they 
draw upon the entire Western slope for their 
income, a great portion of which is ex- 
pended in the City of Oakland, both in 
pay rolls and purchasing of supplies 

The manager and officers of the Com- 
pany are Western men, almost all of them 
having been raised in or near Oakland. 
This makes it a distinctly Western enter- 
prise and gives the officers a just pride in 
the growth of the business. In looking 
over the plant and its environments one 
thing so particularly noticeable is the ideal 
condition under which the employees work. 
There is good light, excellent ventilation 
and everything is clean and sanitary in 
every department. In addition to these 
ideal conditions, there is perfect system 
evident everywhere; each person's work is 
mapped out for him, and the big business 
is carried on with as little friction and con- 
fusion as a well oiled and perfectly adjusted 
machine. 

The Pacific Manifolding Book Company 
has done and is doing a great deal for the 
City of Oakland in more ways than one, 
and there is every indication that it will do 
a great deal more in the future. 



148 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




CODE-PORTWOOD CANNING Co. 



149 



Code-Portwood Canning Company 



The growing of fruit in California is no 
doubt the one important industry of Cali- 
fornia, and, as a natural sequence, the busi- 
ness of preserving, packing and distributing 
California fruit for the world's consumption 
ranks among the first industries of the 
Golden State. 

In dealing with this industry, the editors 
selected the Code-Portwood Canning Com- 
pany, as the largest and most representative 
concern of its kind in Oakland, for discussion 
in this volume. 

The Code-Portwood Company pack about 
every kind of fruit that it is possible to pre- 
serve in cans. The big plant at Eleventh 
Street and Twenty-eighth Avenue, Fruitvale, 
is housed in a building 700 feet by 100 feet 
and is two stories high. The cannery is 
equipped with the latest machinery, and has 
facilities in the way of economical devices 
for the filling of cans, the cleansing of fruit 
and for handling filled cans that no other 
concern of its kind has. 

It has never been the policy of the com- 
pany to see how cheap a product it could 
turn out, but how good; and if there was 
ever an industry where this policy should be 
practiced it is in the fruit canning business. 
The Code-Portwood people have always been 
willing to pay the highest price for fruit in 
order to get absolutely the best the market 
affords. The men in charge of the work in 
every department have been taught that in 
their business verily "cleanliness is next to 
godliness," and every precaution is taken to 



send to the consumer as clean and sweet a 
product as is humanly possible. 

The concern has certainly done its share in 
advertising the city of Oakland broadly, as 
they ship canned fruit in large quantities to 
every corner of the globe, from China and 
Japan to Bombay, India, all over the United 
States and Canada, England, Germany, 
France, Denmark, Alaska, Australia and New 
Zealand. Considerable business is done with 
the railroad companies of both the United 
States and Canada. 

The company employs from four to five 
hundred people and distributes something like 
$75,000 per year in Oakland for wages and 
other disbursements. From 260,000 to 300,000 
cases of canned fruit are shipped from Oak- 
land by this concern every year. Among 
the better known brands which the Code- 
Portwood Company pack are "All Gold," 
"Claremont," "Premium" and "Fruitvale." 

These products were awarded the only gold 
medal at the Sacramento State Fair in Septem- 
ber, 1907, 1908, 1909 and 1910 and gold medal 
at the Alaska- Yukon-Pacific Exposition at 
Seattle in 1909. 

The Code-Portwood Company was estab- 
lished on May 12, 1898, and during its dozen 
years of existence has, through progressive 
methods and by maintaining a high standard 
of quality in its products, become one of the 
solid business institutions of California. 

The. officers of the corporation are: R. H. 
Swayne, president ; C. L. Tilden, vice-presi- 
dent ; M. A. Thomas, secretary, and A- L- 
Duncan, general manager. 



150 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Oakland Brewing and Malting Company 

^^AKERS OF 

"SLUE and GOLD" LAGER 



It is generally conceded that the big 
plant of the Oakland Brewing & Malting 
Company, located at 26th and Chestnut 
Streets, Oakland, occupies the most artis- 
tic group of buildings of any industrial in- 
stitution in Alameda County. 

This is a comparatively new institution, 
organized on March 12th, 1907, and the 
fact that in the brief period of four years, 



this company has always produced a scien- 
tifically pure and healthful beer, has, of 
course, been the foundation of the marve- 
lous growth of the business. 

The brewery has a capacity of sixty 
thousand barrels per year at the present 
time, and since starting operations a few 
years ago has had to increase its capa- 
city three times. The plant has drilled 




Interior Oakland Brewing and Malting Company 



Blue & Gold Beer is sold in immense quan- 
tities in all the Bay Cities, and is becoming 
known as a standard article all over the 
State, speaks well for the enterprise and 
excellent business management of the 
gentlemen holding executive positions in 
the concern. 

The plant is equipped with the inost 
modern machinery, and nothing is lacking 
in the way of up-to-date devices as a pro- 
tection against all impurities; the fact that 



its own wells for water supply. 

All the bottling is done through a silver 
pipe line under Government inspection, and 
the general packing and bottling depart- 
ment, both from a sanitary standpoint and 
in the perfect arrangement for securing a 
maximum output with the least labor and 
expense, leaves little to be desired. All 
beer shipped out must be properly aged 
and up to the government standard, so it 
might be said the Blue & Gold Beer is 



Oakland Brewing and Malting Co. 



151 




Oakland Brewing and Malting Co. — Bottling Room 



really guaranteed by the Government. 

The Oakland Brewing & Malting Corn- 
pan furnishes employment to about seventy 
people the year round, in addition to the 
large amount of capital expended in costh 
buildings, machinery and equipment, which 
adds greatly to the general prosperity of 
Oakland. It pays out something like a 
quarter of a million dollars per year to 
its various emploj^es. 



The architectural style of the building is 
uniquely beautiful, and is of a type some- 
times found in the old German Castles. 
From a view point this group of buildings, 
occupjnng two city blocks, presents a fine 
picture. 

The officers of the corporation are : C. 
S. Plant, President ; Henry Wieking, Treas- 
urer; J. M. Bonner, Secretary. 




Engine Room — Oakland Brewing and Malting Co. 



153 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Oakland Brew 



Oaklanu Brewing and Malting Co. 



153 




Malting Co. 



154 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




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Oakland Warehouse Co. 



155 




Oakland Warehouse Company 



That the Oakland Warehouse Company, 
distributor of incandescent electric lights, 
h^s indeed helped to make Oakland the "one 
bright spot" is Hterally as well as figuratively 
true. This concern is rapidly developing into 
an institution of gigantic proportions. The 
business was established here in 1903 as a 
warehouse for the storage of electric lamps 
and general illuminating equipment, and since 
that time has developed into the largest dis- 
tributing concern of all types of Carbon, Gem, 
Tantalum, Tungsten and Incandescent lamps 
in the West. 

Starting in with a floor space of 15,000 
square feet in their old building at Twelfth 
and Clay Streets, it now requires 65,000 
square feet of floor space to meet the re- 
quirements of the business. The new build- 
ing now occupied by the concern is con- 
structed of brick, four stories in height, and 
is absolutely fireproof. It is equipped with 
every modern appliance for the handling of 
the vast amount of material that is constantly 
being shipped in and out, and the business 
is so systematized that the immense amount 
of work is done without friction or confu- 
sion. The building is equipped with its own 
emergency fire pump with a capacity of 1,000 
gallons per minute. 

The Oakland Warehouse Company are dis- 
tributors for : 

Banner Electric Company, Youngstown, O. 

Brilliant Electric Company, Cleveland, O. 

Bryan-Marsh Company, Chicago, 111. 

Buckeye Electric Company, Cleveland, O. 

Colonial Electric Company, Warren, Pa. 

Columbia Incandescent Lamp Company, St. 
Louis. 

Fostoria Incandescent Lamp Company, Fos- 
toria, O. 



General Incandescent Lamp Company, 
Cleveland, O. 

Monarch Incandescent Lamp Company, 
Chicago, 111. 

New York and Ohio Company, Warren, O. 

Shelby Electric Company, Shelby, O. 

Sterling Electrical Manufacturing Com- 
pany, Warren, O. 

Sunbeam Incandescent Lamp Company, 
Chicago, 111. 

Warren Electrical and Specialty Company, 
Warren, O. 

The average shipments since the company 
began operations here, about eight years ago, 
have been 125,000 lamps per month. Among 
the larger users of their various illuminating 
equipment are Oakland Savings Bank Build- 
ing, First National Bank Building, St. Marks 
Hotel, the City Hall and other administra- 
tion buildings of San Francisco, the White 
House and Monadnock Building of San 
Francisco, and in fact nearly every large 
building requiring illumination on the Pacific 
Coast. The company employs 250 people 
and the annual payroll amounts to about 
$72,000. 

The gentlemen who have been the most 
important factors in building up this busi- 
ness to its present magnitude are Messrs. 
J. A. Vandegrift, general manager; R. C. 
Hyde, superintendent, and George E. Norris, 
assistant manager. Miss N. Burns is the au- 
ditor and has supervision of the accounts of 
the company. 

Mr. Vandegrift has been engaged in the 
electrical lamp business for many years in 
the East, and seventeen years ago was ap- 
pointed manager for the Pacific Coast de- 
partment of the Bryan-Marsh Company of 
Chicago. He is recognized as one of the 



156 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



best authorities in the West on electrical illu- 
mination. His energy, unquestioned ability 
and progressive ideas have been strong fac- 
tors in the rapid growth of the concern. He 
is a member of the Oakland Chamber of 
Commerce and is now acting on the Progress 
and Prosperity Committee. 

Mr. Hyde, the superintendent, came to the 
Coast fourteen years ago from the East, hav- 
ing been formerly associated with the Central 
Falls Lamp Company of Rhode Island. He 
has had many years' experience in various de- 
partments of electrical work and has proven 



a valuable acquisition to the concern in the 
supervision of the detail work. 

Mr. Norris, the active young assistant, is 
also an Easterner and has been associated 
with the Oakland Warehouse Company for 
about one year. He was formerly with the 
Banner Electric Company of Youngstown, 
Ohio, first as salesman and later as auditor. 
He is the son of N. L. Norris, a well known 
electrical engineer of the East, who is gen- 
eral manager of two of the largest electrical 
factories in Youngstown. 




J. J. Kennedy 



157 




J. J. KENNEDY 
Pioneer Coalman of Alameda County 



J. J. Kennedy 



An excellent example of what brains and 
energy can accomplish will be found in the 
life story of J. J. Kennedy, the pioneer coal 
man of Alameda County. 

Mr. Kennedy has lived in Oakland for 
the past thirty years. He is a self-made 
man in every sense of the term. As a young 
man, in 1881, he mastered the trade of iron 
molder and worked in that capacity for five 
years, and it was during this period of his 
career that the plain, honest hard work es- 
tablished in him a virility and manhood 
which has been the foundation of his sub- 
sequent success. 

As an iron molder he learned the value 



of a dollar, and in 1887 he had saved enough 
to embark in business for himself. With a 
capital of exactly $335.35 he established a 
coal yard at Eighth and Chester Streets. The 
busines grew and prospered, not by leaps 
and bounds, but steadily and healthfully, and 
after a few years Mr. Kennedy was able to 
purchase his partner's interest in the busi- 
ness, he having been associated at that time 
with H. J. Cruz. 

During the following years the coal busi- 
ness was at its best, as fuel oil had not then 
come into general use, and Kennedy verily 
"made hay while the sun shone." He se- 
cured all the business of the city, county and 



158 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



State in this territory, including all the 
schools, Home for the Blind and other pub- 
lic institutions, University of California, fire, 
police and street departments, etc., which at 
that time amounted to quite a few thousands 
of tons of coal per year. Kennedy did not 
secure this business through any "pull," but 
solely on account of his ability to best his 
competitors in price, quality and prompt 
deliveries. 

During this period Mr. Kennedy was fa- 
miliary known throughout the county as the 
"Coke King of Oakland." Coke was largely 
used at that time, and for over twelve years 
Kennedy was the only man or concern sell- 
ing coke on this side of the bay. 

Everyone who knows Mr. Kennedy knows 
him to be absolutely square, both in business. 
and out of business. Even at a time when 
he had no competition in business his deal- 
ings with the public were uniformly cour- 
teous, and customers always received full 
weight and just what they ordered. 

Twenty-two years ago Mr. Kennedy moved 
his business to its present location at 1214 
Market Street, at which time he bought out 
Rice & Sons. He now operates five wagons 
of from two to six tons capacity-, and his 
payroll at present amounts to quite a few 
thousands per year. 

During his long residence in Oakland Mr. 
Kennedy has aided his fortunes materially by 
shrewd real estate investments. Ten years 
ago he purchased the valuable piece of 
property on Market Street, between Four- 
teenth and Fifteenth Streets, upon which he 
has built his present home. Two years ago 
last July he began the erection of one of the 



handsomest apartment houses on this side of 
the bay, which is now completed and occu- 
pied and run under his own supervision. 
This magnificent structure is known as the 
Casa Rosa Apartments and is described more 
fully elsewhere in this volume. 

In addition to the above property he owns 
two flats on Eighth Street, at Nos. 207 and 
209, and four lots on Thirty-second and 
Helen Streets, 50 by 100 feet ; a house at 
51 Hannah Street and various other prop- 
erty. Although we have no official informa- 
tion on the subject, we believe Kennedy will 
soon be rated in the million dollar class. 

Mr. Kennedy's marriage to Miss Mary T. 
Ahern occurred in Oakland about twenty- 
one years ago, the ceremony being performed 
in Sacred Heart Church. Mr. Kennedy suf- 
fered a severe loss in the death of his wife 
four years ago. There are five children : 
May, 20 ; Ignatius and Loretta, twins, 18 ; 
Francis, 16, and Louis, 13. Mr. Kennedy is 
the son of Thomas Kennedy, who died in 
Oakland at the age of 87 in the spring of 
1911. 

In his early youth Mr. Kennedy accepted 
a position as sexton for the Sacred Heart 
Church on Fortieth Street, and no doubt 
the good environment and influence in early 
life had something to do with his subsequent 
career. He has always retained his church 
affiliations, and his many charitable acts in 
Oakland during years past have been spon- 
taneous and of the most practicable sort. 

Mr. Kennedy now finds it necessary to 
move close to the water front and railroads 
where he intends going into the wholesale 
business together with his retail business. 



Cardinet Candy Co. 



159 




EMIIvE CARDINET 



160 



Greater Oakland, 191] 



Cardinet Candy Company 



One of the enterprising firms that behevcs 
in the future of Oakland and Alameda 
County, and has shown its confidence by 
establishing headquarters here some five or 
six years ago, is the Cardinet Candy Com- 
pany, which is becoming known all over the 
State. 

Immediately after the San Francisco dis- 



time to meet the demands of increasing busi- 
ness. Years ago, in 1898, he associated him- 
self with the Herman C. Fisher Company 
of Sacramento and has been continuously en- 
gaged in the candy business ever since, a 
matter of nearly fourteen years. During 
his many years of practical experience he 
has learned about all there is to know about 




GEO. F. CARDINET 



aster of 1906, Emile Cardinet, after many 
years of experience in the candy business 
and well-founded faith in his ability to suc- 
ceed, decided to engage in business in Oak- 
land, and established the present factory 
at 1069-1071 Kirkham Street, Oakland, 



the manufacture of candies, and this, of 
course, is one of the fundamental reasons 
for the firm's success. He has entire super- 
vision of the manufacturing end of the busi- 
ness. 

George H. Cardinet, the junior member 



which has had to be enlarged from time to of the concern, joined his brother in the 



Cardinet Candy Co. 



Ifil 



business about two years ago and has charge 
of the finances and sales force. He has had 
many years' business experience. Starting in 
with the John Breuner Company of Sacra- 
mento in the early part of 1899 as assistant 
shipping clerk, he was shortly after trans- 
ferred to San Francisco, when the Breuner 
Company bought out the California Furni- 
ture Company of that city. Here he served 
as superintendent of shipping, later as assist- 
ant cashier and finally as superintendent of 
shops and assistant buyer. After ten years' 
connection with this firm he resigned to take 
his present place in the active management 
of the Cardinet Candy Company. His ex- 
perience has proven valuable in systematizing 
the work of the office and sales force in his 
present business, and has had not a little to 
do with the success of the business. 



The Cardinet Candy Company manufacture 
a big general line of candies, from the 
cheaper grades to the finest qualities, and 
also do an immense jobbing business in pack- 
age goods in special lines manufactured in 
the East. It would be hard to find a store 
dealing in candies on this side of the bay 
where the Cardinet goods are not found on 
sale, not to mention the big business carried 
on with San Francisco jobbers. 

They are the largest and practically the 
only manufacturers in Alameda County, and 
it is this sort of energy and enterprise that 
is the foundation of the solid growth of any 
city, and with the advantage of young blood 
and progressive ideas this concern is rapidly 
developing into one of the solid business in- 
stitutions of Alameda Countv. 




162 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Moore & Scott Iron Works 




|N industrial institution of broad 
scope and purpose, in which 
the City of Oakland may well 
take pride, is the Moore & 
Scott Iron Works and ship 
yards. The dry dock and ship yards of 
the company are located in Oakland Harbor, 
at the foot of Adeline Street and have always 
been the scene of busy activity. 

In discussing the industries whose presence 
in Oakland mean prosperity and improve- 
ment of a permanent sort, the Moore & Scott 
Company stands pre-eminent. It not only 
furnishes steady employment to some six 
hundred men, which means the distribution of 
something like a quarter of a million a year 
in pay rolls alone, but they have demon- 
strated that Oakland harbor is built to dock 
the largest vessel that comes into this port. 
Moore & Scott were awarded the contract 
for over-hauling and reconstructing the 



United States Army Transport "Thomas" at 
a cost of about six hundred thousand dollars, 
and the work has been completed to the sat- 
isfaction of all concerned. The "Thomas" 
is the largest vessel ever taken up Oakland 
Creek, the dimensions being: 5,713 tons gross, 
450 feet length by 50 feet breadth by 30 feet 
depth of hold by 24 feet draft of water. 

The plant, with a dry dock capable of tak- 
ing vessels of 3,500 tons capacity, is a credit 
to the city and an urgent necessity as well; 
the benefits to be derived by its acquisition in 
the matter of securing big contracts and the 
resultant disbursements of large sums of 
money in Oakland, are apparent. 

Mr. Robert S. Moore and Mr. John T. 
Scott are widely known as business men of 
calibre and action, and their operations in 
Oakland have been of great general benefit 
to the commonwealth. 




Moore & Scott Iron Works 



163 




164 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




HoGAN Lumber Company 



165 



Hogan Lumber Company 




N writing of Oakland's indus- 
tries, the editors are glad to 
pay full tribute to the Hogan 
Lumber Company, one of the 
largest and oldest institutions 



tures about a half million dollars every year. 
It is self-evident that the Hogan Lumber 
Company has been no small factor in creat- 
ing and maintaining a prosperous city. 
The main lumber yards and plant in Oak- 



of its kind in this thriving city, and one land occupy about eight acres of ground. The 
which has played a most important part in company owns four hundred and twenty feet 




HUGH HOGAN 
President Hogan IvUmber Company 



the development of Oakland's waterfront. 

With lumber yards and mill in Berkeley 
and Elmhurst, in addition to the big planing 
mill and yards at the foot of Alice Street, in 
Oakland, the company employs something like 
two hundred men and distribute in Oakland 
and vicinity in pay-rolls, and local expendi- 



of water front, and own their docks and 
wharves with deep water, capable of harbor- 
ing two large vessels at once. The concern 
also owns or is interested in several freight 
boats, among which are the "Aurelia," "Svea," 
"Bowdoin," and others. 

In addition to the large business of ship- 



166 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




HoGAN Lumber Company 



167 



ping, storing and marketing lumber, the com- 
pany operates one of the largest and best 
equipped planing mills on this side of the 
bay, where all sorts of mill work is done. 

The Hogan Lumber Company has done so 
much work and has furnished material for 
so many big structures in the bay cities, that 
it would be impractical to print a list here. 
The concern is at present supplying lumber 
for a large structure at Twelfth and Webster 
Streets, one at Third and Webster Streets, 



of civic improvements, and has done much 
toward the upbuilding of the city. He has 
for years been a member of the Chamber of 
Commerce, acting on various important com- 
mittees, and was its vice-president for four 
years. He has been just as broad gauge in 
his ideas of public improvement as in the 
operations of his own business. Mr. Thomas 
P. Hogan is vice-president and Hugh W. 
Hogan secretary of the company. 
The former gentleman, the brother of Mr. 




HUGH W. HOGAN 
Secretary of Hogan Lumber Company 



one at Telegraph Avenue and Alcatraz Ave- 
nue, and the new Washington Brewery struc- 
ture at Sixth and Kirkham Streets. 

The company supply all the ship yards with 
lumber, as well as many of the big dredges 
built here, having furnished the material re- 
cently for the largest dredger ever built on 
the Pacific Coast ; in the construction of this 
dredger over five hundred thousand feet of 
lumber was used. 

Mr. Hugh Hogan, the founder, and presi- 
dent of the company, is not only one of Oak- 
land's most successful business men but has 
given considerable time to further the cause 



Hugh Hogan, has several business interests 
in the city and is widely and favorably 
known. Hugh W. Hogan, son of the presi- 
dent, is one of the most popular young busi- 
ness men of the city. He has already dem- 
onstrated marked executive ability and is 
well liked on account of his uniform courtesy 
and fairness, and should it come to pass in 
future years that young Mr. Hogan should be 
required to take the helm in guiding the 
affairs of this big business institution, he will 
be found particularly well equipped to take 
care of its responsibilities. 



IfiS 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Yards of Hogaii Lumber Company 



V 




A Group of Hogan I,uniber Company Employes 



Howard Company 



169 



Howard Company 




N the selection of the industrial 
institutions of broad scope that 
have been important factors in 
the growth and development of 
the city of Oakland along solid 
and permanent lines, the editors gladly con- 
cede an important place to the Howard Com- 
pany. 

With yards, docks and bunkers covering 
eighteen acres of ground, running from 
Linden Street to Market Street, this company 
is easily the largest and most representative 
institution of its kind in Oakland, in fact, 
one of the largest on the Pacific Coast. 

The warehouse of the concern is 100 feet 
wide and 500 feet long. The coal bunkers, 
400 feet long and 40 feet high, capable of 
holding six thousand tons, are the largest and 
best equipped on San Francisco Bay. One 
of the features of the bunkers of the Howard 
Company, and an important one, is that cars 
can be loaded directly under the bunker, 
which is not true of any other bunker on the 
bay, and which means less waste and a great 
saving of time and labor. 

The company operates its own plant for 
the manufacture of coal briquettes, which is 
one of the largest in California, having a 
capacity of five tons per hour. 

The Howard Company also conduct a large 
feed and grain business. This department 
of the business has been given particular at- 
tention, and its equipment consists of the most 
modern machinery for cleaning and grading 
grain, and in fact the general handling and 
storage of this commodity. 
All of the various departments in the yard 



are connected with the company's own rail- 
road system ; the business is conducted on 
broad lines, and its equipment and methods 
of conducting the work are the result of ideas 
well studied out, looking toward efficiency, 
speed and economy ; there are locomotive 
cranes for the handling of cumbersome 
weights, sand, gravel and rock. The storage 
system is most modern and complete and is 
operated by electric power. 

The slip at the main side of the wharf 
has been dredged to a depth of twenty-five 
feet at low tide, where a ship can be docked 
four hundred feet in length. Plans are now 
being carried out for the construction of a 
large emergency wharf capable of handling a 
vessel five hundred feet in length and of the 
heaviest tonnage. 

The Howard Company was incorporated 
some twelve years ago, operating in close affi- 
liation with the Western Fuel Company. Mr. 
John L. Howard, the president of the com- 
pany, is not only a past master in matters 
pertaining to the transportation, storage and 
marketing of coal, but is widely known as one 
of California's broad gauge business men. 
Mr. Robert Bruce is vice-president of the 
corporation ; H. G. Ramsey, secretary, and 
John L. Howard, Jr., is treasurer. 

This institution has not only done a great 
deal toward developing Oakland's water front, 
with its wharves, warehouses, bunkers, etc., 
but as a result of its operations here, over 
one hundred men are given steady employ- 
ment, and something over one hundred thou- 
sand dollars is disbursed annually in Oakland 
in payrolls and operating expenses. 



170 



Greater Oakland, 1911 





The Caifornia Ice Company 



171 




W II McDONAIvD 
Manager California Ice Company 



The California Ice Company 




HE California Ice Company, of 
Oakland, organized in 1902, has 
one of the best equipped ice 
and cold storage plants in the 
State. The growth of the 
concern has been in keeping with the re- 
quirements of a rapidly growing city. 

It was not so long ago that ice was brought 
to Oakland in box cars and then stored ; but 
it was a frequent occurrence that the supply 
of ice would become exhausted on the hottest 
days, when most needed, and the company 
was farsighted enough to install an excellent- 
ly equipped plant capable of turning out 
sixty tons of ice per day, maintaining two 
freezing plants. 

Exceptional facilities have been provided 
for handling the enormous business carried 
on in Oakland and vicinity. The institution 
is run systematically, deliveries are prompt, 
and all together the concern is a credit to 
the city. 

The plant is centrally located at the corner 
of Broadway and Second Streets, convenient 
for delivery service to any part of the city. 
There are spacious cold storage rooms for 



the handling of all kinds of perishable com- 
modities. 

The ice manufactured by this company is 
made from pure, distilled water, which is dis- 
tributed throughout the city by the National 
Ice & Cold Storage Company. 

That the California Ice Company is doing 
its share in maintaining the general pros- 
perity of the city is shown when we state 
that some thirty or forty men are furnished 
steady employment through its presence in 
Oakland and about $50,000 per year is dis- 
bursed in pay-rolls and other expenses. 

Mr. W. H. McDonald, the energetic and 
progressive manager of the concern, has been 
the important factor in the success of the 
business here. Coupled with his thorough 
knowledge of the ice manufacturing and re- 
frigerating industry, gained through twenty- 
five years of practical experience, he has 
plenty of executive and managerial ability, 
and it is of course through his personal activ- 
ity and attention to detail that the company 
maintains its prestige among the business in- 
stitutions of Greater Oakland. 



172 



Grkater Oakland, 1911 




Standard Soap Company 



173 



Standard Soap Company 




HE Standard Soap Company is 
one of the pioneer institutions 
of the Coast. It was estab- 
lished in 1862 and is now the 
largest and most completely- 
equipped soap factory west of Kansas City. 
It is located on the water front of West 
Berkeley, where it enjoys the finest rail and 
water shipping facilities. 

Owing to the large volume of raw ma- 
terials received, and finished products shipped, 
the railroad has established the factory as a 
special station and maintains a special agent 
there for the handling of its business. The 
switching facilities make it possible to place 
cars at the door of the shipping and receiv- 
ing departments, or the power plant and 
glycerine refinery, and loading and discharg- 
ing are accomplished with the highest effi- 
ciency. Convenient driveways are provided 
for teaming. 

The main factory building consists of three 
stories, with wings for box factory, ware- 
houses and power plant, the total represent- 
ing a floor space of 125,000 square feet. 

Eight mammoth kettles are utilized in the 
manufacture of soaps, the entire process be- 
ing under scientific control, a fully equipped 
laboratory, in charge of competent chemists, 
being maintained to insure the high standard 
of uniformity in the products of every de- 
partment. Automatic machinery for the cut- 
ting, pressing, wrapping and packing of 



laundry soaps insures the largest output at 
minimum cost. 

In conjunction with the soap factory, and 
adjoining it. The Standard Soap Company 
operates the only complete glycerine refinery 
on the Coast. Here, by the most modern 
methods of distillation and refining, large 
quantities of the ■ finished glycerine are pro- 
duced from the crude materials originating 
in the soap plant. 

The entire institution, including soap fac- 
tory, warehouses, box factory and glycerine 
refinery, cover fifteen acres of ground and 
gives employment to over 100 people. 

The products of The Standard Soap Com- 
pany include everything known to the soap 
industry — laundry soaps of every description, 
toilet soaps of every grade, soap powder, 
chipped soaps, mechanic soaps, liquid soap, 
sand soap, surgical soap and auto soap. The 
Standard Soap Company's products are 
known aud distributed over the entire Pa- 
cific Coast and sold by every jobber and re- 
tailer. To dispose of its large output. The 
Standard Soap Company maintains a large 
and effective selling organization, covering 
every State and county west of the Rockies, 
and large quantities of soap are exported. 

The brands of The Standard Soap Com- 
pany are steadily increasing in popularity 
with consumers, owing to their high quality, 
insured by the use of the best grade ma- 
terials and the most modern scientific manu- 
facturing methods. 



174 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




The Theodore Gier Wine Co. 



175 




Entrance to Vineyard, Napa, California 



The Theodore Gier Wine Industry 




NE of the most widely known 
men in Alameda County, is 
Theodore Gier, founder and 
president of the Theo. Gier 
Wine Company, not only be- 
cause he has built up a great industry dur- 
ing the twenty-five years he has been in busi- 
ness, but for the further reason that he has 
been one of the most active men in Oak- 
land in "boosting" and advertising his 
adopted city. He was vice-president and a 
member of the Executive Committee of the 
Oakland Exposition in 1897, and has always 
held an important place in the Oakland 
Chamber of Commerce. He is also president 
of the Bank of Germany. 

The Gier Wine Company was incorporated 
a few years ago for $1,000,000 to meet the 
exigencies of its increasing business. The 
<:ompany owns and operates five extensive 



vineyards, aggregating over a thousand acres 
in Livermore Valley, the Napa Mountains 
and in St. Helena, with wkie cellars capable 
of storing more than a million gallons at the 
different vineyards. 

The general offices, salesrooms and wine 
cellar, at 575-77 Eighteenth Street, occupy a 
floor space of 26,400 square feet. The local 
wine cellar is one of the most sanitary and 
best equipped in California. The concern 
make a most complete variety of wines and 
dispose of about 300,000 gallons per year. 
The Giersberger wines are now known all 
over the United States and have become a 
standard article. 

Some years ago, Mr. Gier contributed a 
very interesting article on wine culture for 
"Facts and Figures," which we take pleasure 
in re-printing as a whole. 



176 



Greater Oakland, 1911 







^ 








The Theodore Gier Wine Co. 



177 




THEODORE GIER 
President Theo. Gier Wine Company 



WINE CULTURE. 

By Theodore Gier, 

Viticulturist and Wine Dealer, 

In the production of a high quality of wine, 
two things are absolutely necessary : A prop- 
er soil and favorable climate. These are the 
first requisites. After that comes the judicious 
selection of vines, and then the most careful 
manipulation of the product from the time 
the grape leaves the vine until it has passed 
through all the various operations of fer- 
mentation, blending, ageing and clarifying. 

The numerous medals that have been 
awarded the wines of Alameda County in 
competition with American as well as foreign 
wines, both in America and Europe, and the 
flattering commendations of connoisseurs, 
have established beyond a doubt the natural 
fitness of both soil and climate to the produc- 
tion of the highest grades of wines, espe- 
cially of the Sauterne and Cabernet types. It 
is with pride that we speak of the numerous 
medals that were awarded our wines at the 
Paris Exposition in 1889, and latterly at our 



own Columbian Exposition in 1893. The en- 
couragement of our achievements has given 
the industry renewed impetus and shown 
possibilities of greater success than was con- 
ceived of. 

The marvel is not that we should eventu- 
ally attain superiority, but that we should, in 
the infancy of our industry reach such a de- 
gree of perfection that we can command ex- 
ceptional notice when in competition with the 
highest grade of products from the oldest 
vineyards in the world. 

It is a known fact that the older a vine- 
yard is, the better will be the quality of the 
wine produced. Yet from our young vines 
and our limited experience we are producing 
wines that are held in the highest favor by 
those who have other means of judging qual- 
ity than by the labels upon the bottles. 

It is a sad commentary upon the American 
wine drinkers that dealers at times, in order 
to get the higher grades upon the market, 
have been compelled to sell them under 
foreign labels. I have known of higher grades 
of Alameda County wines being sold in the 



178 



Grkatf.r 0\kl.\ni>. Hill 



,,■ / 




The Theodore Gier Wine Co. 



179 




180 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



New York markets at enormous prices under 
foreign labels. In my opinion the time is 
not far distant when California will super- 
sede the world in wines, and Alameda 
County will be in the foreground. 

I have been associated with the production 
of wines the greater portion of my life and 
have had experience in other parts of the 
State, but believe Alameda County to have 
superior advantages both in soil and climate 
to most any other locality, especially in the 
production of the French varieties of Sau- 
terne and Cabernet types. 

In 1892, in company with two gentlemen 
from Rhode Island, by the names of Barker 
and Chesbro, I traveled through Germany 
and Austria, visiting the leading wineries, in- 
specting their methods, and studying their 
wines, with a view of acquiring such infor- 
mation as might be of service in this coun- 
try, and brought back much valuable knowl- 
edge, some of which I have been able to put 
to practical use ; but, on account of the dif- 
ference of our soil and climate, everything 
must be modified to suit our conditions. In 
my vineyard at Livermore I have in bearing 
about seventy-five acres, and am now adding 
about thirty acres more. 

I have 113 dififerent varieties of grapes in 
all. many of which are for experimental pur- 
poses. Among the above varieties from 
which my finer grades of wine are produced 



are Cabernet, Sauvignon, Carbernet Franc, 
Verdot, Petit Sirrah, Sauvignon Blanc, 
Semillon, Petite Pinot, Petite Bouchet, FoUe 
Blanche, Muscatel du Bordelaise, Mataro and 
Zinfandel. With two or three exceptions 
these grapes have been imported from France 
with a view of producing the Sauterne and 
Cabernet types, so popular among wine drink- 
ers, and our success has far exceeded our 
expectations. 

There are in Livermore Valley about four 
thousand acres of producing vines, and the 
output last year in round numbers was 1,- 
000,000 gallons. 

While we may pride ourselves on what we 
have accomplished, I believe greater success 
awaits us, but it will only come through dili- 
gent and persistent effort. The man who is 
easily satisfied may be content with the pres- 
ent state of development, but the ambitious 
man will not rest until he has achieved the 
greatest possibilities, that come only by un- 
daunted courage and persistent labor. We 
should not cease our experimenting, but 
every vineyardist should set apart a portion 
of his vineyard to be devoted to experimental 
purposes, and this should receive his closest 
attention. 

It will only be through such methods that 
we will eventually reach the ultimatum of 
perfection. 



BuswELL Paint Company 



181 




Plant of Buswell Paint Co., Oakland 



Buswell Paint Company 




NE of the oldest business insti- 
tutions in Alameda County is 
the Buswell Paint Company. 
The concern was established 
way back in 1878 by E. G. 
Buswell, at 864 Broadway, and later moved 
to Fourth Street ; the next move was to 
its present address. Mr. E. G. Buswell 
retired from active work about the year 
1900 and placed his two sons in full charge 
of the business. 

Mr. John G. Buswell is now the president 
of the company and E. G. Buswell, Jr.. its 
secretary. These young men have not only 
maintained the business up to the standard 
created by their father, but have, through 
their young energy and progressive ideas, ex- 
tended and broadened the scope of the insti- 
tution, until now it is the leading local con- 
cern of its kind in Alameda County. 

The manufacturing plant of the company 
is located at Eleventh Avenue and Eleventh 
Street. It is excellently equipped, with rail- 
road spur tracks and waterfront facilities ; it 
occupies a space one hundred by two hun- 
dred feet. Buswell's paints are known every- 
where ; they have been used in almost every 



structure in Oakland of importance, and are 
not only exported all over the State but are 
shipped to the Orient and as far away as 
Australia. The Buswell Paint Company have 
recently closed a big contract for shipment 
to Sidney, Australia, and had many contracts 
with the United States Government to supply 
paints for army transports during the Spanish- 
American war. 

The Buswell Company manufacture a large 
and varied line of paints and colors, floor 
paints, enamels, stains and varnishes, and are 
agents for "Alabastine," Berry Bros.' var- 
nishes, Pratt & Lambert's varnishes, Murphy's 
Coach varnishes and John L. Whiting and 
J. J. Adams Company brushes. 

The company disburse about thirty thou- 
sand dollars per year in Oakland in pay-rolls 
and operating expenses. 

The Buswell Superior Graphite Paints were 
accepted and recommended by the architects 
on the new city hall building under con- 
struction, in Oakland, to be used throughout 
on said building. This is the largest and 
most important paint contract ever let in Oak- 
land. 



183 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Plant of the J. J. Pfister Knitting Co., West Berkeley 



J. J. Pfister Knitting Co. 



i i < ^ «" ^ 



HE J. J. PFISTER KNIT- 
TING CO. (incorporated 
1889; authorized caoital stock 
$250,000). which sufifered the 
loss of both its store and 
factory in the great Fire of 1906, located 
the latter at Eighth and Parker Streets, 
West Berkeley, during the reconstruction 
period, and reopened for business Novem- 
ber 15, 1906. 

The business was founded in 1877 by 
Mr. J. J. Pfister. Thirty-four years of 
activity have seen the change from a plant 
of one room, 14x14 feet, with three hand- 
machines, run by Mr. Pfister personally, 
to a two-story and basement plant 60x150 
feet, with a pay-roll including some 110 
employees in and out of the factory. 

Competent salesmen personally cover all 
the important cities and towns of the Pa- 
cific Slope, while the company's actual sell- 
ing field extends from New York on the 



east to Honolulu on the west, and from 
Alaska on the north to San Diego and 
Galveston on the south. 

In the light, airy rooms of the factory 
the company produces an extensive line of 
knit goods. Pfister quality bathing suits, 
sweaters and jerseys have been worn by 
the most prominent Californians in all 
walks of life. Rufif-neck coats are a spe- 
cialty, as the company's equipment is the 
most extensive on the Pacific Coast. Un- 
derwear for men and women in silk, wool 
and lisle, and infant's toques and bonnets 
in the pineapple and other beautiful 
stitches are also produced in large quan- 
tities. 

The leading Oakland, Berkeley and Ala- 
meda stores carry Pfister Quality goods 
and every inhabitant of the three cities is 
urged to support local industry by de- 
manding Pfister Quality knit goods. 



California Cotton Mills 



183 




Califoniia Cotton Mills, East Oakland, Cal. 



California Cotton Mills, East Oakland 




AKLAND enjoys the proud dis- 
tinction of having the only cot- 
ton mill west of Chicago, and 
the big mills at East Oakland 
have had no small influence on 
the prosperity of the city. The California 
Cotton Mills . furnish employment to between 
six and seven hundred people, and as a result 
of its operations here over three hundred 
thousand dollars is distributed every j^ear in 
pay rolls alone. The daily operating expense, 
not including cost of raw material, is $2,000, 
and the company spends on an average of 
$3,000 every day for material. When it is 
considered that a large portion of this money 
is spent in Oakland, there can be no doubt 
about the institution being a most important 
factor in the prosperity of the commonwealth. 
The mills occupy twenty or thirty buildings, 
with six acres of floor space. The main build- 
ing is about 700 by 400 feet, and is the largest 
structure for industrial purposes in Alameda 
County. 

The California Cotton Mills manufacture a 
big variety of goods, including cotton twines, 
ropes, burlaps, canvas, towels, tablecloths, 



comforters, and a large assortment of jute 
and flax goods. The market for these prod- 
ucts extends from British Columbia on tlie 
north, to Mexico on the south, and as far 
east as Salt Lake City. Goods are also ex- 
ported to the Hawaiian Islands and the 
Philippines. 

The Company was organized in 1883, with 
John Center and Mr. Beaver as the principal 
financiers and promoters, and these gentlemen 
deserve a great deal of credit for successfully 
launching the big enterprise. The present 
officers are as follows : Mr. George L. Center, 
President; Mr. Fred H. Beaver, Vice-Presi- 
dent ; Mr. J. Y. Miller, Secretary and Treas- 
urer. 

Mr. William Rutherford, the Superintendent, 
hails from Scotland, and is one of the best 
authorities on the manufacture of cotton prod- 
ucts and mill machinery in the country, hav- 
ing had years of practical experience. 

Mr. J. R. Miller, the active young Assistant 
Superintendent, and son of the Treasurer, is 
rapidly assimilating a practical knowledge of 
the cotton manufacturing business, and has 
shown a degree of executive business ability 
that promises well for his future success. 



184 



Grkater Oakland, 1911 



Sun Milling Company 




HE editor takes pleasure in 
writing about industries that 
were "born and raised" in 
Oakland, and this is true of 
the Sun Milling Company, 
which began its existence in a very modest 
way in a little wooden building at Second 
and Brush Streets about eight years ago. 

Messrs. L. J. and M. W. Stoddard, the 
founders of this business, are sons of the late 
Joel Stoddard, one of the early pioneers of 
California, who had been in the milling busi- 
ness for forty-five years in Yuba, Santa Rosa, 
Lake Counties, and San Francisco, Califor- 
nia, and although the sons have had to 
make tlieir own way in the world, their 
father taught them about all there was to 
know about the milling business. 

Coupled with their practical knowledge of 
the business, these gentlemen have a goodly 
degree of enterprise and energy and have 



successfully introduced the new • breakfast 
foods, "Wheatro" and "Nutro," which food 
products possess real merit and are now 
recognized as standard articles. 

The business in these breakfast foods has 
developed so rapidly that last January the con- 
cern was compelled to move to larger quarters, 
and now own and occupy one of the best 
equipped plants in the State of California. 
The building is solidly constructed of brick, 
two stories in height, having a total floor 
space of nearly 7,000 feet. The new struc- 
ture has excellent light, ventilation, and is 
absolutely sanitary and clean in every depart- 
ment. The building is constructed so that 
another story may be added when necessary. 

The Sun Milling Company deserves the 
support and encouragement of every con- 
sumer who believes in good food, and in build- 
ing up Oakland's industries. 




Sun Milling Company 



185 




Greater Oakland, 1911 



Golden West Brewing Company 



When the new plant of the Golden 
West Brewing Company is completed, at 
Seventh and Kirkham Streets, this concern 
will have one of the finest institutions of 
its kind on t^e Pacific Coast. 

The plant will occupy one whole square 
block, with a frontage of 175 feet on Sev- 
enth Street and 376 feet on Kirkham 
Street, and will be equipped with the lat- 
est machinery and improvements in both 
the brewing and bottling departments. 

The company will brew both steam and 
lager beer, and expect to extend the busi- 
ness of the concern broadly after the new 
plant is in operation. It will have a ca- 
pacity of a two hundred and fifty barrel 
kettle per day. The business furnishes 
employment to two hundred and fifty men 
at the present time, which will be greatly 
augmented as soon as improvements are 
completed. 

The new building has a concrete foun- 
dation and will be six stories in height 
on the Seventh-street corner; the upper 
stories will be constructed of a rich cream 
colored brick, with steel frame, and alto- 
gether will be one of the handsomest 
structures for industrial purposes in the 
city. 

The Golden West Brewing Company's 



output covers nearly every part of Ala- 
meda County, controlling the Raspiller 
Brewery, the Palace Brewery, the Hay- 
wards Brewery, the Anchor and the Wash- 
ington Brewery, the consolidated interests 
representing a large amount of capital. 

It is expected that the new brewery will 
be completed in about six months time, 
and when completed will certainly be as 
up-to-date and as complete as any similar 
concern on the Pacific Coast. The com- 
pany will have its own spur railroad track 
direct to its doors, with water transpor- 
tation near by, and the shipping facilities 
will be well nigh perfect. 

The plant has its own water supply, 
having drilled two wells, from which 
plenty of water of excellent quality is ob- 
tained. As the quality of water is a big 
factor in the making of beer, there is no 
reason why the concern, with its new 
equipment, should not be able to meet all 
competition in putting an excellent beer 
on the market. 

The officers of the company are: Mr. 
George J. White, president; Mr. Joseph 
Raspiller, vice-president; Mr. Joseph 
Kramm, secretary, and Mr. Charles W. 
Heyer, treasurer. 



Golden West Brewing Company 



187 




188 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Studebaker Bros. Co. 



Studebaker Bros. Co. of California. Oak- 
land Branch, is operated under the follow- 
ing officers: Frederick S. Fish, president, 
South Bend, Indiana; Chester N. Weaver, 
vice-president and general manager, San 
Francisco, and Harvey L. Burchell as 
manager of the local branch. 

This branch was established in Novem- 
ber, 1909, after due deliberation of the im- 
portance of the field, both from the auto- 
mobile and vehicle standpoint. Even with 
the largest plant of its kind on the coast, 
the business demand of this field made 
the local establishment a necessity. The 
present location is in a two-story building, 
on the corner of Twelfth and Jackson 
Streets, Twelfth Street being known as 
"automobile row," with a floor space of 
22,000 square feet. Both floors are well 
lighted, making a beautiful show room for 
automobiles, vehicles and accessories, and 
the various lines handled relative thereto. 

Studebaker Bros, enjoy the distinction 
of being the largest house of this kind in 
the city of Oakland, and it ranks well in 
magnitude with the other houses of this 
kind on the coast. It carries at all times 
a $75,000 stock, complete in assortment 
and quality. It takes a force of twenty- 
five people to handle the large flow of 
business that goes forth from this estab- 
lishment from day to day. The demand 
for automobiles always far exceeds the 



available supply. The fifty-two years of 
successful business of Studebaker Bros. 
Company is known the world over for 
honesty of quality and fair dealing. The 
policy of this branch has been especially 
strong along these lines. 

The growth of Oakland indicates that 
the present building is going to be inade- 
quate for the volume of business handled, 
sooner than was anticipated. This branch 
is operated under an Automobile Depart- 
ment, which vigorously pushes before the 
public the E-M-F 30 and the Flanders 
20. The season will close with approxi- 
mately 250 more cars on the streets of Oak- 
land. A capably managed Accessory De- 
partment caters to the users of these cars, 
and in fact to users of all cars, with a 
complete stock of supplies pertaining to 
the automobile trade. Back of the Auto- 
mobile and Accessory Department is first- 
class Service Department, which is always 
ready to make the many customers happy, 
in the speedy relief of their difficulties. The 
Vehicle Department is by no means in the 
background, for, notwithstanding the in- 
creased price of horse flesh, the demand 
for horse-drawn vehicles is still of con- 
siderable magnitude. Studebaker Bros.' 
quality along vehicle lines can't help but 
appeal to the public, and the Easterner 
coming to the West never goes wrong in 
dealing with a house so widely known. 



Studebaker Bros. Company 



189 




190 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




H. h. BURCHEIvL 
Manager Studebaker Bros. Company, Oakland 



Mr. Harvey L. Burchell, the young 
manager of Studebaker Bros.' Oakland 
branch, is a production of the "Golden 
State" by birth and training. He has been 
identified with the wagon industry during 
most of his business career, and, accord- 
ing to the laws of evolution, the automo- 
bile business following so naturally where 
the vehicle business terminates, it is not 
at all surprising that he should be found 
prominently identified with the former. 

The Studebaker Bros.' Company are to 
be congratulated in having Mr. Burchall 
in charge of the Oakland office, because 
it was under his plastic hand and execu- 
tive ability that the Oakland business has 



grown to such large proportions. Mr. 
Burchell impressed the interviewer at 
once, as a "live-wire" and a hard worker, 
and when there is any knotty business 
problem to untangle, or a job requiring a 
few hours' extra work at night, we feel 
sure that Mr. Burchell would wade right 
in and get the thing done. As he says 
himself, "It's better to wear out than rust 
out." 

In discussing Oakland's future, Mr. 
Burchell has great confidence in the city's 
rapid growth and commercial importance, 
and believes that it will soon take its 
place among the "big cities" of the nation. 



Ransome-Crummey Company. 



191 



Ransome-Crummey Company 



iLTHOUGH the editors have no 
official information on the sub- 
ject, we believe it can be safely 
said that the firm of Ransome- 
Crummey Company are the 
largest and busiest contractors in Oakland, 
and maybe on the Pacific Coast. 





Ransome-Cruniniey Co. 

The firm, although maintaining offices in 
Sacramento, San Francisco and San Jose, is 
a thoroughly Oakland concern and has always 
maintained headquarters in this city since it 
was established in 1900, the present general 
offices being located in the Union Savings 
Bank Building. 

If there is any grading job, street or con- 
struction work too big for the Ransome- 
Crummey Company to handle we don't know 
what it is. They built the Columbia Theater 
in San Francisco, the Hotel Sacramento and 
several other first-class structures. Thev 



built the Ocean Shore Railroad and con- 
structed what is known as the Foothill Boule- 
vard in Alameda County. They also built 
the road from Sacramento to Folsom, and laid 
the asphalt pavement on Broadway, Oakland. 
The firm is doing all the paving or reconstruc- 
tion work on the Southern Pacific tracks in 
Berkeley, as well as similar work on the 
Oakland Traction lines from Oakland to Hay- 
wards. They are also doing all the paving 
work for the Street Railway Company of San 
Jose. 

The concern has quarries at San Pedro 
Point, on the line of the Ocean Shore Rail 
road, Leona Heights and in the Merced Can- 
yon at Exchequer. 

Tlie reason that the firm of Ransome- 
Crummey Company get most of the big con- 
tracts is not through any "pull" or favorit- 
ism, but because they are better equipped 
than anyone else to do this class of work, 
enabling them to bid lower, and because the 
quality of their work in past performances 
has been of a high standard. 

The concern has large yards and warehouses 
at Twenty-sixth and Poplar Streets and has 
invested thousands of dollars in modern 
equipment, consisting of steam shovels, loco- 
motive cranes, heavy steam rollers, asphalt 
plant, etc. 

The Ransome-Crummey Company furnishes 
employment to about five hundred men on an 
average, and the payroll amounts to about 
$40,000 every month, which adds materially to 
Oakland's prosperity. 

We venture to state that there is no con- 
tracting firm on the Pacific Coast that is in 
a better position to handle big business than 
the Ransome-Crummey Company of Oakland. 



192 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




steam Shovel at Work, Ocean Shore Road. Ransome-Crummey Construction Co. 





Stable Yard and Warehouse, 26th and Poplar Sts. 



Ransome-Crummey Co. at West Oakland 



Ransome-Crummey Co. 



193 



• ... << 



^. 










Gang at Work Grading for Ocean Shore Road. Ransome-Crummey Co. 




Work on Sacramento and Folsom Road. Ransome-Crummey Co. 



194 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Pacific Freight and Transportation Co. 




NE of the most progressive 
and largest concerns of its 
kind in Alameda County is 
the Pacific Freight and Trans- 
portation Company , whose 
big warehouse and yards are located on the 
waterfront at the foot of Webster Street. 

The business was established about five 
years ago, and under the able management 
of its hustling and progressive President, 
Mr. Walter R. Rideout, it has steadily 
grown to its present proportions. In 1910 
Mr. Rideout established the trans-bay ship- 
ping end of the business, and the company 
is now in a position to handle the biggest 
contracts for the transportation of freight 
between San Francisco and Oakland, Ala- 
meda and Berkeley. 

The concern operates three freight boats, 
the "Alviso," 150 tons; the "Trilby," 100 
tons and the "Juliette," 400 tons. About a 
3^ear ago, following out its policy of doing 
ever3'thing possible to increase the effici- 
ency of its SERVICE, the company in- 
augurated the use of auto-trucks for de- 
liveries, and up to date have purchased six 
of these big trucks, which means the in- 
vestment of nearly $30,000 for autos alone. 
The company gives employment to some 
seventy-two men, and the annual pay roll 
amounts to $51,200, which adds materially 
to the general prosperity of Oakland. The 
concern transfer from 150 to 175 tons 
of freight per day, doing more busi- 
ness than all the rest of the transfer com- 
panies combined. The warehouse, which is 
situated directly on the water front, with 
excellent shipping facilities, is 350 feet long 
by 75 feet wide. In addition to the auto- 
truck service, the company operate about 
fifteen teams. 

The company practically control the 
trans-bay freighting business, doing all the 
work of the Pacific Hardware Company, 
Dunham, Carrigan & Hayden, Lally & Co., 
Holbrook, Merrill & Stetson, Haas Bros., 
N. O. Nelson, Whittier-Coburn & Co., Bass- 
Hueter Paint Company, N. R. Nason, Sher- 



win-Williams Co., Wellman-Peck Co., J. H. 
Newbauer, Sussman-Wormser Co., Till- 
mann & Bendel, L. T. Snow, M. Getz, Getz 
Bros., Hooper & Jennings, A. P. Hotaling, 
Italian-Swiss Colony Wine Co., and hun- 
dreds of others. 

Mr. Walter R. Rideout, the congenial 
head of this concern, is one of the best 
known and most por^ular business men in the 




WAIvTKR R. RIDEOUT 

city. He is a product of California soil, 
born in 1867 and is typically Western m his 
ideas. He is a man of generous propor- 
tions and big ideas. While shrewd and 
energetic in business matters, all those who 
know him find in him a good fellow, gener- 
ous to a fault and a staunch friend. Mr. 
E. P. Harris, broadly and favorably known 
in Oakland, is the Secretary of the com- 
pany. 



Pacific Freight and Transportation Co. 



19S 




196 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Raymond Boyd 

Advertising Director, 245 Bacon Building 




iS ADVERTISING plays a most 
important part in the ad- 
vancement and upbuilding of a 
community, it is essential that 
the leading advertising agency 
of Alameda County be given a place in this 
book. 

Oakland is attracting world-v\^ide atten- 
tion because she advertises — because her na- 
tional publicity has been directed by 
trained advertising experts of ability and 
experience. 

Raymond Boyd, whose photograph serves 
to illustrate this article, has directed a num- 
ber of the largest publicity and promotion 
campaigns in this section of the State. He 
has been identified with a strong list of 
local concerns and has shaped the adver- 
tising policy, both local and national, of 
several manufacturers and merchants with 
marked success. 

Mr. Boyd has been actively engaged in 
advertising and promotion work for over 
ten years, coming to Oakland from San 
Francisco, where for three years he di- 
rected the promotion department of Varney 
& Green, one of the largest concerns de- 
voted to outdoor advertising. Over three 
years ago Mr. Boyd joined forces with the 
Honig Advertising Service of San Fran- 
cisco, taking charge of the copy and rate 
departments. 

Since locating in Oakland he has as- 
sumed control of some of the leading local 
advertising accounts, building up a flourish- 
ing business by his experience, ability and 
personal attention to every account he 
handles. 

Mr. Boyd is a hustler and a booster; he 
takes an active interest in all matters per- 
taining to civic betterment and is one of 
the most energetic members of the Prog- 



ress and Prosperity Committee of the Oak- 
land Chamber of Commerce. 

He holds no brief for any special medium 
of advertising, but gives his services direct 
to his clients. His advertising counsel and 
advice is characterized by simple honesty 
and absolute frankness. He knows the 




RAYMOND BOYD 
PuBi:,iciTY Expert 



markets — knows trade conditions and — he 
knows advertising. 

His address is 245 Bacon Building. Phone, 
Oakland 1208. 



Martin W. Riehl. 



197 



Martin W. Riehl 

Attorney and President Vienna Cafe, Inc. 




HE editors gladly concede an 
important place in this vol- 
ume to Mr. Martin W. Riehl, 
a member of the California 
Bar, and a man active in 
several business interests of Oakland. 

Mr. Riehl is a product of California 
soil, born in Gilroy, Santa Clara County, 
California. He is the son of Adam Riehl, 
a member of the Legislature of the State 
of California for several years, and one 
of the best known men of Santa Clara 
County. The elder Riehl has amassed a for- 
tune, through intelligent investments during 
his long career in California, and is still liv- 
ing in San Jose, enjoying perfect health, 
at the ripe age of 80. In the early days 
he was engaged in the brewing and malt- 
ing business, and enjoys the distinction of 
having established one of the first brew- 
eries in the State. 

Martin Riehl received his early educa- 
tion in the public schools of San Jose, and 
later entered St. Mary's College in Oak- 
land, graduating in 1890. After his gradu- 
ation, he decided to take up the law as 
•a profession, and entered the law offices 
of Mr. S. S. Leib, of San Jose, complet- 
ing his studies under Joseph D. Redding, 
of San Francisco. His adaptability and 
ready grasp of the intricacies of law is 
shown when it is stated" that he passed a 
creditable examination and was admitted 
to the bar at the age of twenty-one. 

He began active practice in the offices 
of Garber, Boalt & Bishop, the well 
known attorneys, and pleaded several im- 
portant criminal cases, one of the most 
prominent being the case of Thomas 
Flannelly, for the murder of his father 
and Sheriff McAvoy, whom he defended. 
This case was well handled by Mr. Riehl, 
and was finally taken to the Supreme 
Court of the United States. The case 
was tried under Chief Justice Beatty and 



a final conviction was secured, three for 
acquittal and four for conviction, after 
two and one-half years in the various 
courts. 

Some years ago Mr. Riehl saw an op- 
portunity in Oakland for a liquor business 
conducted according to his own ideals; 
he is a veritable crank about good liquor, 
and insists that he has the only absolute 
straight liquor house in the world. He 
has given a great deal of study to the 
subject of distillation, and the interviewer 
learned a good deal regarding this indus- 
try during a chat with him. Quoting 
from an authority on whiskey, Mr. Riehl 
said: 

"The sick are going to have alcohol in 
some of the shapes in which it is drunk, 
and a matter of the first importance is 
that liquors administered to them be 
genuine and good. The possibility or the 
probability of their not obtaining those 
has not generally been considered by the 
doctors as it should have been. The phy- 
sician orders good whiskey and leaves it 
to the patients' attendants to find it as 
they may. Some may possess the facility 
or the knowledge necessary to get genuine 
liquors, but the vast majority, even among 
the intelligent, do not. 

"The American whiskey market has been 
greatly demoralized in recent years by the 
too common introduction and too general 
recognition of blended goods. Everything 
not strictly 'straight' and guaranteed by 
government stamp and copyrighted trade- 
mark is known as 'blend,' which implies 
merely a combination of two or more 
brands of straight goods producing some- 
thing embodying the general character of 
the several goods combined. So far 
blending may not deserve condemnation, 
but such is not the blending in common 
use. The goods sold as such are more 
frequently dangerous compounds, having 



198 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




MARTIN W. RIEHIv 
Attorney and President of Vienna Cafe, Inc. 



Martin W. Riehl. 



199 



inferior spirits for their base, which, 
freely watered for reduction of proof, 
flavored, colored and otherwise doctored, 
become the standby of many saloons. Such 
goods are often put upon the market by 
recognized wholesale dealers, who excuse 
themselves by pleading the practice of 
some distillers in jumping over their 
heads and supplying the retail trade di- 
rect. 'And now,' they say, 'shall we blame 
the middleman for consulting the law of 
self-preservation?' As things have been, 
he could find no profit in straight goods, 
and no man wants to do business at a loss. 

"The average retailer doesn't concern 
himself about the amount of corn the 
spirit distillers are mashing, nor does he 
mind paying more for spirits and water 
than for eight-year-old sour-mash, if the 
price per wine gallon is not too high, and 
provided the salesman 'blows' himself 
every time he calls for an order. This 
thing of ordering up drinks is the great 
argument with the average retailer, and 
therefore the man whose goods offer him 
a big margin of profit is the man best 
armed for the fight in this fertile field. 

"Is it any wonder, therefore, that the 
wholesale dealers take to 'blends,' espe- 
cially as their customers expect salesmen 
to spend a lot of money, demand a lot 
of time in which to pay accounts, and 
have a habit of going out of business and 
of failing and of giving chattel mortgages 
to brewers that is calculated to destroy 
the peace of mind and uproot the pros- 
perity of all those who sell them goods 
on a close margin? 

"But all this is outside the purpose. I 
merely desire to show how legitimate 
whiskey is made, as has been done, refer- 
ring to this modern and pernicious evil 
of so-called 'blending,' simply to show that 
'all is not gold that glitters' — or at least 
that all is not whiskey that is placed be- 
fore the customer at the average bar." 



So then, it is according to these stand- 
ards that Mr. Riehl conducts the Vienna 
Cafe, at 967 Broadway, Oakland. The 
fact that whiskey does not ripen until 
eight years in the wood, and Mr. Riehl 
has twenty-four barrels of the very best 
brands, the age of which is from eight to 
twenty-two years, and that it is drawn 
right out of the barrel in front of the 
customer, would preclude anything else 
being sold to them but the very purest of 
alcoholic drinks, which the medical pro- 
fession invariably prescribes, thereby of- 
fering to the people of Oakland something 
which no other city in the world has, and 
a boon to Oakland's citizens and her 
visitors. Mr. Riehl has always made it a 
policy to make no additional charge for 
the pure goods, so there is no excuse for 
Oaklanders to drink inferior whiskey. The 
Vienna Cafe is conducted on a clean and 
legitimate basis, is handsomely fitted up 
with leather upholstered divans, which 
might be called "council chambers" and 
altogether is a credit to the city. It is in- 
tended as a retreat for gentlemen, and 
nothing bordering on the boisterous is 
tolerated. 

Mr. Riehl gives considerable of his time 
to the management of the business, and 
his personality and congeniality are big 
assets. He has many friends, because he 
is a good friend himself, and as a result 
of all these several features, the cafe en- 
joys the patronage of the best people in 
the city. 

As soon as his business interests will 
allow it, Mr. Riehl expects to resume the 
practice of the law in Oakland, and no 
doubt will be heard from in the near 
future in the legal profession. 

Mr. Riehl's marriage to Miss Blondnetta 
Cron, a daughter of A. B. Cron, a capi- 
talist of Minnesota, occurred in Alameda 
on November 17, 1899. He has one 
daughter. Miss Ralpha, aged ten. 



200 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Sommarstrom Bros. 

Building Contractors 




OMMARSTROAI BROS., the 
contracting firm, composed 
of M. F. and Edward Som- 
marstrom, two active and 
thorough young builders of 
Oakland, is rapidly coming to the front as 
one of the busiest and most reliable con- 
tracting firms in Alameda County. 

The firm was established some six years 
ago, with headquarters at 1127 Magnolia 
Street, and through conscientious work, 
keeping all agreements and promises to 
the letter, and exceptional adaptability in 
designing and construction work, these 
j'oung men have built up a large and well 
established business. 

They have built over one hundred build- 
ings in Oakland and have won a wide 
reputation for building honestly. Their 
work has been so satisfactory that a large 
portion of it has come to them without 
solicitation. 

Among the buildings built and designed 
by them may be mentioned flats and stores 



on Poplar Street, flats and stores on Six- 
teenth and Linden Streets, a 60x90 brick 
building on Fifty-fourth and Grove Streets, 
a sixteen-room fraternity house on the 
south side of Dwight Way,' between Hille- 
gass and Benvenue Avenues, and a number 
of residences and flats in different parts 
of the city. 

At present they are engaged in the con- 
struction of a residence for Mr. McKinlay, 
of the McKinlay-Perkins Co., and eight 
flats on Tenth and Chestnut Streets, and 
a residence on Arimo Avenue for Mrs. 
S. E. Woods, a residence for C. H. Wil- 
liamson on El Camino Real, residence for 
Mr. Otto Johnson on Lawton Avenue, 
residence for Mr. John Nelson, located on 
McMillan Avenue, also an artistic three- 
story plastered apartment house on Alice 
and Sixteenth Streets. 

Judging from the present outlook, the 
firm of Sommarstrom Bros, is destined to 
become one of the most important con- 
cerns of its kind on this side of the bay. 




SOMMARSTROM BrOS. 



201 





M. F. SOMMARSTROM 





RDWARD SOMMARSTROM 



Greater Oakland, 1911 





J' 




Some Buildingrs Designed and Constructed by Soraniarstrom Bros., Contractors 



Standard Photo Engraving Co. 



203 



Standard Photo Engraving Company 



NE of the younger business 
concerns of Oakland that is 
growing rapidly, and is even 
getting business away from 
some of its San Francisco 
competitors, is the Standard Photo Engrav- 




Standard Photo Engraving Company was 
established. 

It has always been the policy of the con- 
cern to give to its numerous customers 
clean-cut, artistic work, and it is largely 
tlirough their conscientious endeavors in 




T. E. WHITMORE 



E. C. SIQUEIRA 



ing Company, whose plant is located at 
3201 E. 17th Street, Oakland. 

Messrs. T. E. Whitmore and E. C. 
Siqueira, the partners of the concern, are 
both active and capable young men in their 
line of work, and have been associated to- 
gether since 1908, at which time the 



this respect, and their willingness to cor- 
rect anything not just right, that their busi- 
ness has grown rapidly, and they have re- 
tained the patronage of every customer. 

The business has now developed to such 
an extent that a larger plant is required, 
and the firm has recently purchased the 



204 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



equipment of Lemos Brothers, who have 
been established for eight years in Oak- 
land, and who have given up their engrav- 
ing plant to devote all their time to meet 
the increasing demand for their art work. 
Pedro J. Lemos is now giving his total at- 
tention to Art instruction, having been ap- 
pointed Instructor of Decorative Design at 
the San Francisco Institute of Art (former- 
ly Mark Hopkins). With its new equipment 
and improved quarters, the Standard Photo 
Engraving Company will be the second 
largest institution of its kind in Alameda 
County. 

The concern has done, and is doing, con- 
siderable work for the Oakland Chamber 



of Commerce, and various periodicals pub- 
lished in San Francisco. The most recent 
contract of the concern was the making 
of all the half-tone engravings for this pub- 
lication, "Greater Oakland 1911." 

Before this volume goes to press, the 
Standard Photo Engraving Company will 
have been installed in its new home, at 
824 Athens Avenue, just off San Pablo, be- 
tween 24th and 25th Streets, and plans to 
extend its business broadly; it will be able 
to meet any and all competition both as to 
price and quality of work done, and the 
concern gives every promise of growing to 
large proportions. 



California Pickle and Sauce Company. 



205 



California Pickle and Sauce Company 




NE of the representative con- 
cerns in its line of industry, 
is the California Pickle & 
Sauce Company, whose well 
equipped plant is located at 
619 to 625 Myrtle Street. 

The proprietors of the business, Messrs. 
Helmond & Deppe, have, through long ex- 
perience and careful study and experiment, 
been able to put on the market a class of 
goods equal to the best produced anywhere 
on the Pacific Coast. As a result they have 
developed a big and permanent trade with 
grocers, restaurants and hotels of the best 
sort. 

An inspection of the plant will reveal a 
clean and sanitary condition in every depart- 
ment. The products used in the making of 



pickles, preserves, relishes, etc., are selected 
with utmost care, and it has never been the 
policy of this concern to economize in ex- 
penditures in purchasing the raw material 
This company's product was awarded the 
diploma at the State Agricultural Fair held 
in Sacramento in 1907. 

The California Pickle & Sauce Company 
is a purely Oakland concern and deserves 
the support it is receiving from the consum- 
ers of this city, not only on account of the 
merit of its goods, but because it is a home 
industry and gives employment to local people. 

The company pays out quite a few thou- 
sands of dollars every year in this city to 
employes and other various expenses, which 
is steadily increasing as the business grows. 




206 



Greater Oakland, 1911 





\ ^ ,\ '^ \- ^ \ \ \ \ \ \ , 




DoAK Gas Engine Company. 



207 



Doak Gas Engine Company 

Manufacturers of Gas Engines 




NE of the industrial institu- 
tions whose presence in Oak- 
land adds materially to the 
activity and prosperity of the 
city is the Doak Gas Engine 
Company, whose big manufacturing plant 
is located at Fourth and Madison Streets. 

The Doak Gas Engine was designed and 
invented by the late John E. Doak in 1892. 
While he was associated with Henshaw, 
Bulklcy & Company, of San Francisco, he 
formed a partnership with Mr. William 
Letts Oliver under the name of the Doak 
Gas Engine Company, which has since 
been incorporated with William Letts 
Oliver as president; Mr. Frederick W. 
Hall, vice-president, and R. L. Jennings, 
secretary and treasurer. 

Although the company maintains sales 
offices in the Sheldon Building, San Fran- 
cisco, it is purely an Oakland enterprise 
and all the manufacturing and shipping is 
done from this city. 

The concern has installed some notable 
plants, among which are the Winnemucca 
Electric Light & Power Works, Water & 
Light Plant, at Elko, Nevada; the Leona 
Chemical Company's big power plant, and 
the Municipal Pumping Plant, on the 
shores of Lake Merritt. 

The Doak Company has also installed 
pumping plants for fire protection, etc., in 
Turlock, Colusa, Yuba City, and Madera. 

As the citizens of Oakland will surely 
be interested in its high pressure fire 
fighting system, and as the Doak Gas En- 
gine plays a most important part in this 
system, we are reprinting as a whole an 
article from the "Engineering Rtrcrd" of 
July 23, 1910, entitled: 



OAKLAND'S HIGH PRESSURE FIRE 
FIGHTING SYSTEM. 

A salt-water, high-pressure fire protec- 
tion system recently has been placed in 
operation in the central business district 
of Oakland, Cal. The system is designed 
as an auxiliary to the present fire-fighting 
facilities, in a restricted area in which the 
number of fire streams required is greater 
than is demanded in the surrounding sec- 
tions of the city. The pumping plant of 
the system supplies these additional streams, 
and the design provides that as the re- 
stricted area increases the salt-water mains 
may be extended. Hose streams are taken 
directly from hydrants on the high-pressure 
mains, so that no steamers are required. 
Dependence for a supply for fighting or- 
dinary fires is placed on the existing fresh- 
water system of mains, and the salt-water 
pumping plant stands idle, except when 
called on in emergencies. Damage to the 
contents of a building by salt water thus 
is avoided in all except large fires. 

The pumping plant is in a park on the 
shore of Lake Merritt, a body of salt water 
connected with San Francisco Bay, and is 
at a distance of about 1% miles from the 
center of the area in which the mains of 
the salt-water system have been laid. In- 
cluding the force main leading to the edge 
of that area, 12,000 feet of mains are in 
service, protection thus being provided to 
60 blocks of business property. The con- 
tract has been awarded for an additional 
5,340 feet of mains, including a fire-boat 
connection on the water front, and the 
scheme for the system contemplates that 
mains eventually will cover an area of 114 



DoAK Gas Engine Company. 



209 



square miles. This area is shown by an 
accompanying map, on which the mains 
already completed and those now undei 
contract also are indicated. 

The mechanical equipment of the pump- 
ing plant embraces two 250-horsepower gas 
engines, each connected to a four-stage tur- 
bine pump. The two units are capable of 
delivering ten fire streams of 200 gallons 
per minute each, against pressure of 200 
pounds per square inch. The specifications 
required that within two minutes of the 
time an alarm is given, five of the streams 



which will be used as a spare unit, or to 
increase the capacity of the plant 50 per 
cent during a conflagration. In the design 
of the pumping plant and the arrangement 
of the distribution mains, the suggestions 
of the engineers of the Board of Under- 
writers of the Pacific were followed. 

Four sources of power were considered 
for the pumping plant: electric motors, 
steam-driven plant, gas engines running on 
gas from street mains, and gas engines 
operating on distillate, which is a substi- 
tute for gasoline. As a result of the in- 




Main Units in the Oakland Pumping Station 



should be delivered and the additional five 
within two minutes of the call on the sta- 
tion. These requirements have been re- 
duced by actual service so that one pump 
is placed in operation in thirty seconds and 
the second within two minutes. Recent 
tests showed that two pumps delivered 
2,400 gallons per minute through 250 feet 
of hose in the center of the business area 
with 80 pounds nozzle pressure. The pres- 
sure on the mains at the pumps is 200 
pounds per square inch. The plans con- 
template an additional engine and pump, 



vestigations that were made, the following 
conclusions were reached as being factors 
which governed the use of each type of 
power under the local conditions: 

Electric motors would depend on an 
overhead system of wires for power trans- 
mission, and such a system would be in 
great danger of failure during a fire or an 
earthquake. The use of motors also would 
make the fire protection system dependent 
on a private enterprise for power, the en- 
tire load of which would have to be sup- 
plied at very short notice. If this load was 



210 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



drawn from general distribution systems, 
the supply of current might be weak or 
entirely cut off when needed. On the other 
hand, if the necessary machinery to furnish 
the current required on call had to be in- 
stalled, the owners would look to the city 
for enough income to defray the expense of 
providing and maintaining it. The Board 
of Fire Underwriters protested vigorously 
against the use of electric motors under 
these conditions. 

A steam-driven plant would cost approx- 
imately the same as the gas engine instal- 



and auxiliary machinery, since at least one 
boiler would have to be kept under fire at 
all times, while the gas engine plant stands 
idle with no loss. 

Gas engines operating on gas from the 
street mains are dependent on a private 
enterprise for fuel. They also must draw 
their supply from the general distribution 
system, with its chances of lack of pres- 
sure and of failure in case of earthquakes 
or fire. 

Gas engines running on distillate have 
an independent source of power, since a 




Pumping Station near I<ake Merritt 



lation. Although the cost of the opera- 
tion of the former would be slightly higher 
than that of the latter, the ultimate cost 
was considered the same. The building to 
house the plant had to be an ornamental 
structure adapted in design to the park 
and residential surroundings, and there 
could be nothing about the plant that 
would be objectionable in a park. A steam 
plant would have required a larger build- 
ing than has been built, a tall chimney 
and the hauling and storage of consider- 
able fuel oil. There would likewise be a 
considerable deterioration of the boilers 



storage capacity of fuel sufficient for 24 
hours' run at full load of the plant is pro- 
vided. In selecting the equipment in- 
stalled, the designers also held that gas 
engines have reached such a high degree 
of perfection that they are now considered 
as reliable a source of power as steam 
engines. The several large fire-fighting 
plants using gas engines that are in suc- 
cessful operation were cited to show the 
results obtained in service with equipment 
of this type. 

A number of conditions influenced the 
selection of the type of pump installed. 



DoAK Gas Engine Company. 



211 



The first of these was the distance from 
the plant to the point where the water is 
used, and the lack of direct and rapid 
communication between these points under 
all conditions. Another was the necessity 
of pumping salt water which may contain 
foreign matter. The final governing factor 
was the desire to secure a pump that was 
simple in construction and operation. 

The multi-stage turbine pump was held 
to be nearly ideal for the conditions in- 
volved and for the service required, owing 
to its simplicity and the fact that it is 
started by the application of power, without 
requiring the manipulation of by-pass or 
other valves. This type of pump will also 
handle without injury the dirty salt water 
supply that is available. The pumps may be 
started when a call on the station is made 
and run at full speed without water being 
drawn from the hydrants, although the 
maximum pressure will be maintained on 
the system. The water then may be drawn 
as needed until the full capacity of the 
pump is reached, and the maximum pres- 
sure maintained meanwhile. In fact, with 
the design developed the pumps maintain 
the pressure on the distribution system the 
same as it would be kept up by an ele- 
vated tank or reservoir. 

The pumping station, which is also a 
park building, is a one-story reinforced- 
concrete structure, 64 by 80 feet in plan 
and 17 feet high to the eaves line, which 
is treated architecturally to harmonize with 
its surroundings. The exterior walls were 
given a plaster finish. The roof is of the 
low, Spanish type, with a covering of red 
tile on steel trusses. The ground around 
the building was graded to bring the latter 
naturally into the landscape, the effect se- 
cured being particularly satisfactory. The 
interior of the building also is .finished in 
keeping with the exterior treatment. 

The building is divided into five rooms, 
one, 46x46.5 feet in plan, that contains the 
mechanical equipment, an engineer's room, 
a storeroom, and two public toilet rooms, 
with a 16-foot porch on both sides. The 
arrangement of the main units and auxili- 
aries is shown in one of the accompanying 
drawings. The pump of each main unit 
draws water from a separate screen cham- 
ber in a section well under the floor of the 
room. This well is built to provide for 



the installation of a third unit and is con- 
nected with the adjacent lake by means of 
a 4x4-foot concrete conduit extending 20 
feet oflfshore into 10 feet of water. The 
suction pipe of each pump is provided with 
a double-flap foot valve designed to hold 
a pressure of 250 pounds to the square 
inch. The discharge of both pumps has an 
8-inch connection to a 14-inch force main 
laid on the floor at the end of the room 
and over the suction well. Each of these 
connections is provided with a check valve, 
which prevents the return of water to the 
pump in case the latter goes out of com- 
mission suddenly. Beyond this check valve 
is a gate valve provided to permit the 
pump to be cut off when desired, without 
interfering with the operation of the other 
unit. 

The two 250-horsepower gas engines 
were designed and built by the Doak Gas 
Engine Company, Oakland and San Fran- 
cisco, as a part of the contract for the 
installation of the entire mechanical equip- 
ment. They are duplicate machines, both 
being of the vertical, single-acting, six- 
cylinder, four-cycle type, with make and 
break ignition. Each of the engine cylin- 
ders has three separate sources of current 
for ignition purposes; two sets of Edison 
primary batteries and a storage battery 
that is charged by means of a generator. 
A float-feed vaporizer is provided on each 
engine for the distillate. The latter is 
pumped to a 50-gallon auxiliary supply 
tank for each engine, these tanks being 
elevated at the end of the room. The 
main supply from which the elevated aux- 
iliary tanks are filled and from which the 
engines are supplied regularly is in a 1,700- 
gallon tank placed underground outside of 
the building. The auxiliary fuel supply, 
therefore, is by gravity, with a sufficient 
head to insure its delivery if the fuel pumps 
on the engines fail. The cylinders of the 
engines are built separate and are water- 
jacketed for cooling. Water is circulated 
through the jackets by a centrifugal pump 
direct-connected to the shaft of the engine. 
This pump draws a supply from the suction 
well and discharges back into the lake. 
The supply also can be obtained from the 
fresh-water mains or the large pumps 
directly. 

The engines are arranged to be started 



212 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



with compressed air. Two air-storage 
tanks, each of sufficient capacity to start 
one of the engines twice, are provided. Air 
is delivered to these tanks by means of a 
duplicate set of air compressors, each 
direct-connected to a four-cycle 7i/2-horse- 
power Doak gas engine. The air in the 
tanks is maintained at 150 pounds pressure 
by the compressor, which is manually con- 
trolled by the operators in charge of the 
station. 

The pumps are of the horizontal, four- 
stage, turbine type, built by the Krogh 
Manufacturing Company. San Francisco. 
The shaft of each is geared to the shaft 
of its engine, the speed of the engines be- 
ing 285 and the pumps 1,140 revolutions per 
minute. A friction clutch is provided on 
the engine shaft so the engine may be 
started and brought up to speed before 
the pump is thrown in. The driving gear 
in each case is of cast steel and the driven 
gear is wrought steel in one piece with 
the shaft. The gear shaft is attached to 
the pump shaft with a split coupling keyed 
to both shafts. The gear shafts run in 
ring-oiling babbitted bearings enclosed in 
a tight cast-iron case fitted with stuffing 
boxes. 

The rated efficiency of the pumps is 60 
per cent under full load. Their efficiency 
also is required to be such that at any rate 
of discharge against the adopted pressure 
of 200 pounds to the square inch the load 
on the engine does not exceed the rated 
amount for the respective discharge. Final 
tests showed a pump efficiency of 66 per 
cent. 

Each engine is equipped with a throttle 
governor fitted with a controller by means 
of which the speed is regulated. Levers 
and quadrants also are brought to one 
point from which the whole engine is con- 
trolled. The operator can watch the pump 
of the unit while standing at the point to 
which these levers and quadrants are 
brought, and with a couple of steps can 
reach the clutch on the drive shaft of the 
unit. 

A pressure of 50 pounds per square inch 
is maintained on the mains at all times 
by an accumulator in the pumping station. 
This accumulator is 3 feet in diameter and 
10 feet high and is made tight for air and 



water under a pressure of 100 pounds per 
square inch. It is connected with the 14- 
inch discharge force main by a 2-inch pipe 
fitted with a gate and check valve, both of 
which are built for salt-water and 250 
pounds pressure. The accumulator also is 
equipped with a 2-inch pressure relief valve 
designed to release at 100 pounds. Water 
for maintaining the pressure on the accum- 
ulator is delivered by a 3x4-inch triplex 
single-acting power pump that is brass fit- 
ted throughout. This pump is geared to 
a single-phase, 208-volt, 60-cycle, 2-horse- 
power Wagner motor, designed to start on 
full current and with full load on the 
pump. The latter and its motor are 
mounted on a cast-iron base and are con- 
nected by a double-reduction cut gearing, 
the motor pinion being of rawhide. The 
motor is arranged to start automatically 
by means of a controller which comes into 
action when the accumulator falls below 
40 pounds pressure and is thrown out when 
the pressure reaches 50 pounds to the 
square inch. The air compressor also is 
connected to the top of the accumulator, 
in order that the pressure from the air 
storage tanks may be used to maintain the 
required pressure on the mains. 

The distribution mains of the high-pres- 
sure system are laid as a gridiron, with 
cross connections arranged so any one 
length of them may be cut ofif without af- 
fecting the balance of the system. The 
protected area is girdled by 12 and 14-inch 
mains with 10-inch cross lines connecting 
them. The mains are not only of such size 
as to give ample capacity, but also to allow 
for incrustations from the salt-water with- 
out decreasing the capacity of the system 
to any serious extent. Bell and spigot 
cast-iron pipe, made according to standard 
specifications for material and methods of 
casting, was used. The bells are some- 
what deeper than in ordinary practice and 
the thickness of the shell is increased 
slightly over the standard for the various 
sizes employed. This increase in thickness 
is sufficient to allow considerable loss of 
iron by corrosion, without weakening the 
pipe too much to withstand the pressure 
to which it is subjected. The sections of 
pipe were coated with coal-tar pitch var- 
nish, fluxed with sufficient oil to make it 



DoAK Gas Engine Company. 



213 



tough and tenacious when cold, but not 
brittle nor with a tendency to scale. After 
the coating hardened, the straight sections 
of pipe were subjected to a hydrostatic 
pressure of 400 pounds to the square inch 
and hammered while under this pressure. 

The valves by means of which the mains 
are divided into sections are in brick man- 
holes having cast-iron tops and covers. 
They are of extra weight and are designed 
for the high-pressure salt-water service, 
under a working head of 225 pounds to the 
square inch. They have cast-iron bodies, 
with bell connections, except for special 
lengths. Their double gates are independ- 
ently adjustable and are arranged so the 
central pressure is removed entirely and 
the disks freed from their seats before 
being raised. All working parts of the 
valves, including the entire gate disk and 
all contact surfaces, are of bronze of a 
special composition selected to resist wear 
and corrosion by salt or brackish water, 
the wedging surface on the spreader being 
of harder bronze than those on the disks. 
The upper end of the spreader nuts and 
the inner surface of the top of the valve 
case are finished to a close fit when the 
valve is fully open, in order that only 
slight leakage occurs when the stuffing 
box is repacked without shutting down 
the valves. 

A flush hydrant is placed at every street 
intersection in the area protected by the 
high-pressure mains. The hydrants are 
each in a concrete manhole l)uilt at one 
side of the main and below the surface 
of the street, a location being selected in 
each case as near the center of the street 
intersection as possible. This type of hy- 
drant was chosen because any possibility 
of damage to a hydrant by a wagon or 
other vehicle striking it was eliminated. 
These hydrants also avoid the difficulty 
occasionally experienced with the usual 
type of post hydrant, placed behind the 
curb at the corners of a street intersec- 
tion, being rendered unsafe for use during 
a fire in an adjoining building. The hy- 
drant manholes each have a cast-iron 
cover so that any part of the hydrant may 
be repaired or replaced without disturbing 
the surface of the street. The cover also 
is of such design that two men can lift 



it with ease. The fact that no frost oc- 
curs in Oakland, of course, should be borne 
in mind, since this condition permitted the 
employment of a hydrant of this type. 

Each hydrant has a manifold of 8-inch 
pipe which is connected inside of the man- 
hole to the main. A valve on this connec- 
tion is provided with a hand wheel in the 
manhole, placed where it can be reached 
and operated readily. The quarter-turn on 
which the manifold is mounted is carried 
by a cast-iron chair anchored to the bot- 
tom of the manhole. The blank flanges 
on the ends of the manifold also are both 
fastened to brackets embedded in the sides 
of the manhole. Five 3-inch hose connec- 
tions are attached to the manifold by 
means of flanges. Each connection is 
provided with a gate valve so it may be 
operated independently. The manifold not 
only permits a quite satisfactory arrange- 
ment of these connections, but also re- 
duces the loss by friction in the hydrants 
to a minimum. 

On each hydrant is a 4-inch connection, 
by means of which standpipes for build- 
ings can be supplied through a pipe laid 
underground and provided at the hydrants 
with a gate valve. These standpipes have 
hose connections at the sidewalk which 
are left open for use with fire engines and 
fresh water. The connection with the 
high-pressure system is made at the base 
of the standpipe, so the one above it can 
be left open without interference. Since 
the hydrants are ordinarily only 280 feet 
apart on the mains, it was considered bet- 
ter to make the standpipe connections at 
them, where they are readily found, rather 
than along the main between the hydrant. 

No connections to the high-pressure 
mains are provided for automatic sprinkler 
systems, since the latter are supplied to 
best advantage from the fresh-water sys- 
tem of mains for several reasons. In the 
first place, the automatic sprinkler system 
is most valuable in stopping fires before 
much damage is done to other than the 
contents of the building, and fresh water 
causes less damage from this source than 
does salt water. The automatic sprinklers 
frequently become operative before the 
alarm of fire is given, in which case the 
salt-water system would not give an ef- 



214 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



fective pressure nor enough water until 
after the alarm had been sounded. 

The total cost of the high-presure fire 
protection system, embracing the pumping 
plant and the 12,000 feet of mains that 
were laid under the first contract, was $95,- 
000. This amount included approximately 
$4,500 for the replacement of pavements in 
the streets in which the main had to be 
laid. The cost of the pumping station 
building also was somewhat higlier than 
would ordinarily be incurred under most 
conditions, amounting to a total of $23,000. 
The contract for the entire mechanical 



equipment amounted to $28,000 and in- 
cluded all of the apparatus in the station, 
The high-pressure fire protection system 
was designed and installed under the direc- 
tion of Mr. F. C. Turner, city engineer of 
Oakland, Cal. Mr. P. F. Brown, assistant 
city engineer, was directly in charge of 
the design and installation and was as- 
sisted by Mr. Charles S. Allardt, consult- 
ing mechanical engineer, who made the 
comparative study of the various classes 
of power available and prepared the speci- 
fications governing the mechanical details 
of the equipment of the pumping station. 




American Rubber Mfg. Company. 



215 



American Rubber Mfg. Company 




HE American Rubber Manu- 
facturing Company, whose 
well equipped plant is lo- 
cated at Park Avenue and 
Watt Street, brings its share 
of prosperity and activity to the city, and is 
an important acquisition to the already large 
list of Oakland industrial enterprises. 

While the salesrooms are located at 9 
and 11 Beale Street, San Francisco, all the 
manufacturing, shipping and heavy work is 
done in the Oakland factory. The company 
manufactures a complete line of belting, 
rubber and cotton hose, dredger sleeves, 
packing, mats and matting, tubing, molded 
goods, valves, springs, washers, rubber- 
covered rolls, etc. 

The company manufactures belts for 
every purpose, including power transmis- 
sion, rock and coal conveyors, cement and 
hot clinker conveyors, axle lightning and 
high-speed polishing or emery belts. The 
brands of belting are the well-known 
"Crackerjack," "Bonanza," "Yosemite," 
"Torpedo," and "Invisible Friction Sur- 
face." The Water Hose is known by sim- 
ilar brands. The company makes a special- 
ty of oil suction hose. It is of special con- 
struction, and will stand enormous pressure 
both for suction and discharge, and yet is 
light in weight and extremely flexible, so 
that it is not dragged to pieces by its own 
weight. It is made from specially prepared 



oil resisting compounds, which are oil re- 
sisting and suitable for refined as well as 
crude oils. 

The company also manufactures corru- 
gated tender hose for connection between 
locomotive and tender, as well as acid 
hose, cotton, rubber lined fire hose and 
cotton rubber lined mill hose for fire pro- 
tection. 

In addition to the above, the concern 
carries a big line of roll coverings, and 
has many compounds to meet the special 
requirements of the purpose intended. One 
of the important reasons for their success 
in this line, is that they guarantee their 
coverings never to work loose from the 
core. This work includes rolls for bean 
sorting, laundries, paper mills, press copy- 
ing, seeding prunes, seeding raisins, cotton 
mills, woolen mills, tanneries, etc. 

The American Rubber Manufacturing 
Company also makes rubber mats and 
matting, corrugated stair treads, perforated 
mats, molded door mats, cuspidor mats, and 
carries in stock a complete line of brass 
fittings, couplings and fire hose pipes. 

The business of the concern is growing 
rapidly, and they expect soon to have 
larger quarters to meet the requirements of 
the increased output. The officers are Mr. 
A. Borland, President; Mr. Allen Knight, 
Vice-President; Mr. H. G. Norton, 
Treasurer, and Mr. W. E. Griffith, Secre- 
tary. 



216 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Western Casket Company 



The building occupied by this company, 
at Thirteenth and Madison Streets, Oak- 
land, was erected for the purpose intend- 
ed with all the conveniences for handling 
and shipping. The building is 250x100 feet 
and three stories in height. 

This company manufactures and sells 
to the undertakers only, caskets, couches, 
burial robes for men, women and children, 
and job hardware made for this special 
line of business, steel burial vaults, bronze 
and steel caskets, and everything an under- 
taker requires. 

In the sewing department, five or six 
women are employed making burial robes, 
trimmings for the inside of caskets and 
couches, also slumber robes, door badges, 
etc. Electric power is used for running the 
machines. 

On the second floor is the woodworking 
machinery, also run by electric power. 
Here are machines that cut to proper 
shape all the woodwork necessary in the 
business. In this department men are 



putting together these intricate parts and 
form the caskets and couches ready for 
the trimming department to complete. 

The top floor is occupied by the trim- 
ming department. In this department are 
men of long experience in the work of 
trimming. It requires great care and 
knowledge of this special work in order 
to turn out a good casket, and particularly 
so on couch work that requires the deli- 
cate touch to have it exactly right in every 
respect. 

This company has built up a large busi- 
ness in the past five years on high-class 
supplies for the undertakers. Their sales- 
men travel the territory from Seattle to 
San Diego, Arizona and Nevada. 

The lumber used is redwood, chestnut, 
and oak principally, and about 580,000 feet 
are used annually. 

The present officers of the company are: 
W. H. Antes, president; W. T. Phipps, 
vice-president; F. J. Mayhew, secretary 
and manager. 



Capwell's New Store. 



J17 



Capwell's New Store 




S the public will soon be able 
to see for themselves what a 
magnificent store Mr. H. C. 
Capwell is going to give the 
City of Oakland, the editors 
will not attempt to give a detailed account 
of it here. 

We may state, however, that we know of 
no building, which for general design and 
adaptability for the purpose intended, that 
will surpass the new home of H. C. Cap- 
well & Company now in the course of con- 
struction at Fourteenth and Clay Streets. 

The building is to have a full frontage of 
two hundred and seven feet on Clay Street 
and one hundred and thirty feet on Four- 
teenth Street, with the same on Fifteenth 
Street; the structure will be provided with 
three entrances on all of the three streets. 

We venture to predict that the ladies of 
Oakland will find as much pleasure in shop- 
ping at Capwell's as in any of the big stores 
in Chicago or New York. There will be 
many beautiful things to see, with some feat- 
ures entirely new. 

First there will be a magnificent roof 



garden on top of the building, with real 
growing plants, vines and flowers of many 
descriptions, with large windows capable of 
being thrown open wide in clement weather ; 
then there will be a beautiful walk, fully pro- 
tected, along the outer roof, where may be 
obtained a magnificent view of the bay and 
surrounding hills. Another innovation will 
be the play room for children with a matron 
in charge. Also a spacious ladies' reception 
room with every facility for the comfort of 
tired shoppers. On the top of the building 
will be found a well equipped dining-room 
capable of seating 300 people. 

Then there will be the well appointed audi- 
torium, with a stage, which may be utilized 
for art exhibitions, doll shows, womens' meet- 
ings or similar functions. An escalator or 
moving stairway between the first and second 
floors will save wearied shoppers the effort 
of climbing stairs, or the inconvenience of 
crowded elevators. 

It must be conceded that Mr. Capwell is 
doing his share in putting Oakland in the 
"big city" class. 




218 



Greater Oakland, 1911 










Taft & Pennoyer's Temple of Fashion. 



219 




Taft &. I'ennoyer s Klfijaiil Store, Fourteenth and Cla.\ Streets 



Taft & Pennoyer's Temple of Fashion 




NE of Oakland's up-to-date 
stores is the fine establishment 
of Taft & Pennoyer in that 
beautiful building on Clay 
Street, between Fourteenth and 
Fifteenth, which they have been occupying 
the last three years. Valued with the ground 
on which it stands at one million dollars, it 
has a frontage of an entire block on Clay 
Street, a total length of over two hundred 
feet, with a height of three stories. 

And this magnificent store, one in which 
the people of Oakland should have a dis- 
tinct pride as a most valuable addition to the 
city's edifices, represents the most modern 



building and improvements possible in such 
an establishment. Finished not quite three 
years ago, the store building has every com- 
fort and convenience of the finest Eastern 
stores and some of the luxuries as well, all 
conducted in such a way that to shop there 
is a distinct pleasure. This is because the 
gracious and kindly spirit of the proprietors 
permeates the entire establishment and gives 
to the whole store an atmosphere of comfort 
and at-homeness almost never found in such 
a place. True, these proprietors are now an 
incorporation, but with the original owner of 
the store, Henry C. Taft, still the controlling 
factor and dominating personality. 



220 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Established Thirty-six Years. 

Thirty-six years ago Mr. Taft opened his 
first store in Oakland on the site where for 
thirty-three years of the store's life it con- 
tinued to remain, Fourteenth and Broadway. 
At first the establishment occupied only one 
of the several stores in the block, but grew 
gradually until over two-thirds of the entire 
building was devoted to the needs of the con- 
cern. For the first five years of its exist- 
ence it was conducted solely by Mr. Taft, but 
in 1880 Albert A. Pennoyer was taken into 
the firm as a partner and the firm became 
the well known one of Taft & Pennoyer, the 
trade-mark of all that is best in business. Mr. 
Pennoyer's death occurred on April 3, 1908, 
and at present the personnel of the company 
is Henry C. Taft, president ; Ro'bert S. 
Phelps, vice-president and treasurer; J. Max- 
well Taft, secretary and advertising manager, 
and Charles G. Monroe, general manager. 

Store of Many Charms. 

A trip through the various parts of the 
store is certainly a distinct pleasure, com- 
prising as it does the sight of so many things 
which are lovely, displayed in such an at- 
tractive way. One of the greatest charms of 
the display is the fact that the goods are not 
cramped for room but there is such an 
abundance of space that everything can be 
seen to the best advantage. Not only that, 
but the building opening on three streets, and 
that by great panel windows set close to- 
gether, has an abundance of light such as is 
not found in one store in a hundred ; in fact 
Mr. Taft, Sr.. says that he knows of only 
one store in the country, one in Pittsburg, 
where more light is to be had. In addition, 
the system of artificial lighting is a singu- 
larly complete one, for instead of a few 
lights scattered here and there over the ceil- 
ing one is placed every few feet, so that each 
floor has dozens of lights, making the illumi- 
nation uniform over the entire floor. Still 
another method of getting a cool, light, airy 
effect is by having the walls, columns and 
much of the woodwork white or ivory in 
color. This with fixtures of brass and much 
of the woodwork in cherry and mahogany- 
finished wood gives a most pleasing effect, 
touched up here and there with grass-green 
carpeting. 



Elaborate Displays. 

This woodwork in counters and shelvings 
serves as an admirable background for the 
various displays of fabrics in which the store 
is rich. For example, on the ground floor 
are all the various dress fabrics in a great 
variety of beautiful designs. Naturally, stress 
is being laid just at present on the summer 
fabrics of which the store has some charming 
patterns. There are, for instance, some most 
attractive ones in Shantungs, especially in the 
favorite combination this season of black and 
white. In these the majority of fabrics show 
stripes, but on the other hand the pongees, 
which have never seemed more attractive 
than this year, are polka-dotted or have some 
small figure scattered over their surfaces. 
One showed an old-fashioned "palm leaf" 
design of blue, the pattern best known as 
Persian today, against the background of tan. 
Still another had polka-dots about half as 
large as a dime in diameter of several colors 
combined, which is a favorite device in all 
sorts of things this season. It is the influ- 
ence of the Oriental in their blendings of 
many gorgeous colors which is being so 
strongly felt at present. Another striking 
evidence of this is in the prints, of which 
French voile is very popular. Here color 
runs riot and once more the Persian pattern 
is prominently seen. 

Toilet Accessories. 

Upon this same lower floor is one depart- 
ment singularly strong, eclipsing those in any 
of the San Francisco stores. That is in the 
matter of accessories to the toilet, so vastly 
important to the general effect, the feature 
upon which the French women spend so 
much time and thought and thereby achieve 
that air of being chic, which is the despair 
of all other women. This year the Irish 
crochet jabots are not so greatly in vogue as 
a year ago, although being still shown in 
most attractive varieties. One of the novel- 
ties of the season is a little bow for the 
neck, the points of which are ornamented 
with hand-painted flowers. 

Another department which makes a more 
restricted appeal, but one none the less po- 
tent, is that of automobile accessories. Such 
comforts as they are turning out these days ! 



Taft & Pennoyer's Temple of Fashion 



221 



r' 



[f 






"•^mi '?n.- 




Art and China Department 




Cloak and Snit Department 



222 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Little trunks and lunch-boxes to be put on 
the running-board, with most attractive of all, 
a compartment box to fit inside the extra 
tire on the running board and made to con- 
tain every possible convenience for roadside 
luncheons. Clothes for automobiling, too, 
with the necessary gauntlet gloves, caps, etc., 
are to be found in abundance. 

Latest in Ribbons. 

Still another most interesting display is that 
made of ribbons, where there is one novelty 
which is certain to interest the shoppers. 
That is a ribbon such as was popular years 
iigo, a black satin background with bouquets 



and the millinery department, under the su- 
pervision of Miss Caroline Jones. Mrs. 
Gibbs arrived in Oakland recently after a 
buying expedition in the East, when more 
charming gowns were added to those already 
included in the stock. 

Chat on Fashions. 

In this connection a little chat with Mr. 
Taft, Jr., disclosed some interesting things in 
regard to the fashions favored by American 
women. It was apropos of the "harem" 
skirt, the "Jupe culotte," as the French call 
it. Mr. Taft thinks this fashion simply a 
fad which will die in a very few weeks — a 




Jewelry and Art Department 



•of vari-colored flowers set at regular inter- 
vals over it. Just where such ribbons could 
be used is a problem, for it is so very pe- 
culiar, but with the great return to favor of 
the sash there will probably not be oppor- 
tunities lacking. This department is kept 
particularly up to date, because the buyer of 
these things, Frank Bush, goes to Europe 
every year in search of all that is new and 
attractive. Mr. Bush is also the buyer for 
the jewelry, leather, parasol and several other 
■ departments, all of which reflect this same 
up-to-dateness and attractiveness. 

On the second floor the major portion of 
the building is devoted to the suit depart- 
•.ment, of which Mrs. M. B. Gibbs is the head. 



fad put forth by the extreme designers of 
Paris and worn only by the actresses and 
demi-mondaines, who are paid to appear in 
these gowns. Such is the custom of intro- 
ducing fashions in Paris in the hope that 
Americans will adopt the fashion, as they 
only too often do, particularly those of the 
"nouveau riche." Mr. Taft thinks the "hob- 
ble skirt" was introduced in the same way, 
as an experiment, one which resulted success- 
fully, yet was not worn in its extreme form 
by those who really have reputations for 
genius in costuming. For instance, Mr. Taft 
returned from Europe on the same vessel 
with Mrs. Alva Willing Astor, society woman 
and beauty of London and New York, di- 



Taft & Pennoyer's Temple of Fashion 



223 



vorced wife of Colonel John Jacob Astor. It 
was just at the time when the "hobble" was 
so tremendously in vogue, yet she had not 
adopted the fashion except in a most modi- 
fied form. In the same way, while the gen- 
eral effect of the "harem skirt" will probably 
endure for a time through an arrangement of 
draperies, it is not worthy of consideration 
in its present form. 



rather long in the handles and some of them 
elaborately ornamented. One of the most at- 
tractive, though, is a white silk spotted with 
black velvet polka-dots whipped onto the 
cover with the buttonhole stitch, repeating 
once more the combination of black and 
white. Still another variation is seen in a 
cover of black silk with a lining of white 
China silk. 



Simplicity Is Vogue. 

In gowns on display at the present time, 
naturally summer fabrics predominate, and 
the heavily elaborate is not to be seen. The 



Employes' Rest-Room. 

These are only a few of the beautiful 
things to be seen in the store; in fact, there 
have been so many it has been a difficult task 




Notions and I,eather Department 



evening gowns are simple, in effect if not in 
construction, in fact it is the simulated sim- 
plicity which is so much in vogue these days. 
Gone, for the moment at least, are the times 
of elaboration, of ruffles and frills and fur- 
belows. The hobble skirt did that for us at 
least, gave us the simple straighter skirt and 
the shorter, plainer jacket. 

In the same way we owe to it the smaller 
hats in vogue at the moment, the trim black 
and white straws fitting close to the head 
and simply ornamented, of which the store 
has some very charming models. And since 
these hats are small, we must have parasols. 



to select so few for comment. Nor is it pos- 
sible to refrain from speaking again of the 
atmosphere of the store which is doubtless 
due largely to the attitude of the proprietors 
to their employes, as well as to the public. 
A firm which provides a restroom for its 
women workers where at lunch time they are 
served with tea without charge certainly has 
taken a long step toward bringing about har- 
monious relations in its establishment and 
has done something toward pushing forward 
the days of Utopia for which we are all 
waiting. 



224 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




A. JONAvS 

President A. Jonas & Sons 



The Hub 

(A. Jonas & Sons) 




NE of the oldest, as well as 
one of the most solid busi- 
ness concerns in Oakland, is 
the clothing establishment 
known as the Hub, at 11th 
and Broadway. 

Mr. A. Jonas, who founded this business 
in 1877, is a native of Germany, and came 
to Oakland directly from that country in 
1875. He began in a little store between 
Sixth and Seventh Streets on Broadway 
about thirty-four years ago. He began his 
business career here in a most modest way, 
and his business growth has been of the 
steady and healthy sort. When he felt 



assured his business would warrant it, he 
moved from time to time to larger quar- 
ters, and now has one of the representa- 
tive stores of the city. 

Mr. Jonas has been particularly active in 
promoting the welfare of his adopted 
city; he is one of the directors of the Oak- 
land Chamber of Commerce, and ex-presi- 
dent of the Merchants' Exchange, and one 
of its present directors. He has been 
strongly in favor of the consolidation of 
the city and county government, and has 
worked in every way he could to bring 
this about, as this truly means a Greater 
Oakland. 



The Hub. 



Mr. Jonas is associated in business with 
his two sons, Irving and Milton. The busi- 
ness was incorporated some time since 



H 



During recent years Mr. A. Jonas has 
been devoting considerable time to civic 
affairs and philanthropic work and has 
been gradually relinquishing the manage- 
ment of the business to his sons, who 
have both shown marked business and 
executive ability. There is no doubt but 
what the establishment will maintain its 
present high place among the business 
concerns of the city under the manage- 




IRVING JONAvS 
Secretary and Manager 

with A. Jonas as president, Irving Jonas, 
the eldest son, as secretary and manager, 
and Milton Jonas as assistant manager 
and director. 

The Hub carries a most complete and 
select stock of clothing and men's furnish- 
ings and are the local agents for Kuppen- 
heimer Clothing, Hawes' Hats, Manhattan 
Shirts and Carhartt Working Clothes. The 




MILTON JONAS 
Assistant Manager 

ment of the enterprising sons. 

The concern employs about thirty people 
and distributes in Oakland in salaries and 



present store has a floor capacity of nearly other expenses about fifty thousand dol 
10,000 feet, including the basement. lars per annum 




226 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Pike Woolen Company 



HEX the interviewer called on 
Mr. R. H. Pike, the active 
young man who founded the 
Pike Woolen Company, and 
its present head, in gathering 
material for this volume, he learned some 
very interesting facts about this worthy in- 
stitution. 





R. H. PIKK 



In the first place it is the only concern 
in Oakland who make clothing in this city 
for tailors and dealers in other cities in 
California and neighboring States. The 
company do a surprisingly large jobbing 
business not only in men's suits, but in 
woolens, trimmings, linings, etc., and dur- 



ing recent years the Pike Woolen Com- 
pany of Oakland has become widely 
known throughout the State as a vigorous 
and progressive concern. 

The company also does a large retail 
business in made-to-order suits, and car- 
ries one of the largest and most complete 
stocks of goods in Oakland. It has been 
the policy of the companj^ to let the cus- 
tomer have the advantage in price, when- 
ever the buyers of the concern have been 
able to purchase material at a low figure, 
and the result is that it retains the patron- 
age of every desirable customer who ap- 
preciates fair treatment, good value, and 
good clothes. 

The Pike Woolen Company is a thor- 
oughly Oakland institution, and should re- 
ceive the support of every individual in- 
terested in the upbuilding of Oakland's in- 
dustrial institutions. The concern employs 
some thirty-five people, and spends in sal- 
aries and other local disbursements about 
forty-five thousand dollars per year. 

Mr. Pike, the young head of the con- 
cern, is thoroughly alive to the opportun- 
ities in Oakland as a growing city and is 
well equipped to take full advantage of 
them. In the first place he knows his 
business thoroughly; with broad experi- 
ence in Eastern cities, especially in Chi- 
cago, he came West some time since and 
established himself at 510 Thirteenth St. 
His business prospered and continued to 
grow in extent until he was compelled to 
move to the present spacious quarters at 
1159-61 Franklin Street. 

Added to his business experience, he is 
most congenial and courteous in his deal- 
ings both with the public and with his 
working force. With these assets the 
Pike Woolen Company should continue to 
forge ahead into one of the big business 
institutions of the city. 



The Osgood Drug Stores. 



227 



The Osgood Drug Stores 




NE of the best examples of 
business enterprise, business 
integrity and service in the 
city of Oakland will be found 
in the history of the drug 
stores that have been conducted for years 
past by Messrs. F. S. and H. L. Osgood. 
We use the term "drug stores" because 
the drug department is of course the big 
end of their business, but the Osgood 
stores have really developed into big de- 
partment stores, and their chemical labora- 
tory distributes an enormous amount of 
proprietory remedies and standard drugs 
that are shipped all over the country and 
are found on sale in practically every drug 
store in the State of California. 

It was not until after several calls had 
been made that the interviewer finally suc- 
ceeded in finding Mr. H. L. Osgood at a 
time when he could spare a few moments 
to furnish such data as he could for this 
book, but the writer's persistence was re- 
warded by an interesting talk, although we 
must admit it was a very brief one. Mr. 
Osgood is a typical American man of 
business; a man of generous proportions, 
keen, bluff and hearty in manner, and 
quick to grasp the point of a proposition. 
As a rule he has weighed the pros and 
cons of a business problem and arrived at 
a decision before some other men would 
have started to think about it at all. As 
a result of his direct methods, an outline 
of the information desired was obtained in 
a very few words and a very few minutes. 
The Osgood Brothers established their 
first store at the corner of Seventh and 
Broadway in a very modest way, in the 
Alsey Building in 1887. Their business 
has not been of mushroom growth, but has 
developed steadily, forcefully and health- 
fully, until today it is one of the most 
solid business institutions in California. 
The magnificent store at Twelfth and 
Washington Streets was established in 1905 



and does a big business. The Osgood 
Brothers supply nearly all the wholesale 
trade in Oakland and the Bay Cities; they 
are owners and manufacturers of three 
hundred and fifty different remedies. The 
introduction of these remedies was started 
in a small way, and this branch of the 
business has been built up entirely through 
the sterling worth of the remedies them- 
selves. To what extent this end of the 
business has developed may be shown 
when it is stated that the sales in this de- 
partment amount to more than $50,000 per 
year. Osgoods' Stomach Remedy is sold 
in every drug store in the Western States; 
Valentine Rinse, which is owned by this 
firm, is sold in every drug store in Cali- 
fornia. The list of the other standard rem- 
edies, which is too long to be given in 
detail here, but which are known to phy- 
sicians and druggists everywhere, are sold 
in every store in Oakland and the Bay 
Cities. 

The Osgoods carry the largest and most 
complete stock of prescription goods in 
the West, and physicians frequently have 
to send from remote parts of the city to 
their stores in order to get just what they 
want. They operate several complete de- 
partments, each a big business in its-.lf. 
In addition to an immense stock of drugs 
and chemicals, there is the leather goods 
department, trusses and surgical goods, 
rubber goods, trunks and bags, cut glass, 
etc.; in fact a veritable emporium. 

The two stores employ some fifty peo- 
ple and the laboratory fifteen people. The 
annual pay-roll amounts to thirty-six thou- 
sand dollars. The stores are in charge 
of able and experienced managers. Mr. 
E. C. Hafner, who has been with this 
firm for twenty years, is manager of the 
Seventh-street store, and Mr. Lewis Miller, 
who has also been twenty years with the 
concern, is manager of the Twelfth-street 
store. 



228 



Grkatek Oakland, 1911 



Mr. Chips, who has been with the firm 
ten years, is manager of the laboratory. 
The concern employs a special buyer and 
succeeded in securing the services of Mr. 
David Wilson for this important position. 
Mr. Wilson was, for ten years, buyer for 
Mack & Company, of San Francisco, and 
lias proven a valuable acquisition to the 
firm. It would seem that every man who 
enters the employ of the Osgoods is con- 
tented to stay with them permanently, 
which is the best indication that they re- 
ceive pretty good treatment, and merit is 
rewarded. 

Osgoods are the largest direct buyers of 
cigars, retail, on the Pacific Coast. Last 
year alone, they purchased seven hundred 
and fifty thousand "Owl" cigars, and re- 
tailed them seven for twenty-five cents. 
They enjoy the distinction of being the 
only store in the whole United States that 
continuously sells "Owl"' cigars at that price. 

Messrs. H. L. and F. S. Osgood, who 
own these stores, are both self-made men ; 



this enormous business has been built up 
through their brains and energy alone. 
They are both registered and practicing 
pharmaceutists and know about all there 
is to know about the drug business. 

There is a good deal of extra credit at- 
tached to their success, because, had they 
been so inclined, they could well afford 
to have lived a life of luxurious ease, as 
their father before them, who will be re- 
membered as one of the prominent early 
pioneers of California, had amassed a for- 
tune, and at his death, left an estate of 
five hundred thousand dollars. This estate 
has been increased through intelligent in- 
vestment until it is now rated at over a 
million dollars. 

The Osgood Brothers conduct their busi- 
ness on a co-operative profit-sharing plan, 
and every man employed by them is di- 
rectly interested in the business and re- 
ceives part of the profits. These gentle- 
men may well feel proud of their business 
record of twenty-five years in the City of 
Oakland. 




Mr. Stanley Blaustein. 



229 




STANLEY BIyAUSTEIN 



Mr. Stanley Blaustein 

Proprietor Lake Pharmacy, Oakland, California 




XE of Oakland's business men 
whose life story bespeaks a 
degree of courage and de- 
termination that is unusual, 
is Mr. Stanley Blaustein, the 
congenial proprietor of the Lake Phar- 
macy, at First Avenue and East Twelfth 
Street, Oakland. 

Mr. Blaustein is a native of Virginia, 
born in Petersburg in 1873. After a thor- 
ough education, he took a course in phar- 
macy and duly received his diploma as a 
practicing pharmaceutist in his early youth. 
He began his career in the drug business 
in the city of New York, where compe- 
tition is keenest and where success comes 
hard. 



That he did succeed in New York, in- 
deed, is shown when it is stated that be- 
fore he had been in business many years 
he was the proprietor of five thriving 
stores in that city, one located at Fifty- 
third Street and Eighth Avenue, another 
at Sixty-fourth Street and Amsterdam Ave- 
nue, one at Thirteenth Street and Sixth 
Avenue, one on First Street and Sixth 
Avenue, and one at Sixth Avenue and Thir- 
teenth Street, Brooklyn, which indicates 
a marked degree of enterprise. He had 
built up a very remunerative business in 
these stores, but when a tempting of¥er 
was made him for his entire holdings in 
the Eastern city, he accepted it, netting for 
himself a comfortable fortune. 



230 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Mk. Stanley Blaustein. 



231 



It was not intended, however, that Mr. 
Blaustein should rest upon his laurels, be- 
cause the Knickbocker Trust Company of 
New York, in which institution he had all 
his money on deposit, closed its doors 
amid the bewailing of depositors, and he 
had to start all over again. 

It was at this time, in 1908, that Mr. 
Blaustein decided to seek his fortunes in 
the Golden West. The first scene of his 
^^'estern activities was in Bakersfield, 
where he did well and got a start. Look- 
ing for broader fields he came to Oakland 
and established himself in his present lo- 
cation on August 6, 1910. 

He is the sole owner of the Lake Phar- 
macy, and through his uniform courtesy, 
his energy and his knowledge of the busi- 
ness in which he is engaged, he is again 
on the road to fortune. The Lake Phar- 
macy carries a complete line of prescrip- 
tion goods, surgical goods, confectionery, 
wines and liquors, post cards, cameras, and 
in fact is a veritable emporium. Mr. Blau- 
stein's business now amounts to about 
$10,000 per year; he employs four clerks. 

A prett}- good indication that Mr. Blau- 



stein understands his business is shown in 
the relation of the following incident: 

At a recent meeting of the Alameda 
County Pharmaceutists' Association, held on 
July 21, 1911, the question of the standard 
strength, or proper proportion, of muriatic 
acid dilute came up for discussion ; some 
of the members present insisted that it 
should be diluted 8^^ per cent, others 15 
per cent, and the verdict was anywhere 
from five to twenty per cent. Mr. Blau- 
stein was the only druggist among all those 
present that knew the right proportion, 
viz.: that muriatic acid diluted 10 per cent 
is standard and correct. 

Mr. Blaustein has not lacked interesting 
or exciting experience since he has been 
at his present location. He enjoys the dis- 
tinction of being held up three times, and 
in every case has frustrated the purposes 
of the hold-ups by quick thinking and per- 
sonal bravery, and so far has escaped with- 
out loss of property or personal injury. 
He also likes to relate how Ex-President 
Roosevelt casually dropped in to call last 
fall during his visit here, inquiring about 
the location of a friend in the vicinity. 




232 



Gkkater Oakland, 1911 




AUGUvST F. MOISSON 



M. & M. Hat Works 



One of the young business men of Oak- 
land who certainly deserves credit for his 
energy and far-sightedness in building up 
his present business, is Mr. August F. 
Moisson, the proprietor of the M. & M. 
Hat Works, at 257 Twelfth Street. 

Mr. Moisson has arrived at his present 
state of prosperity through taking advan- 
tage of opportunities as they came, and 
through good honest hard work. After 
working for a time in Crockett, California, 
with the Hawaiian Sugar Refinery, and 
with other concerns in Nevada and San 
Francisco, he decided to cast his fortunes 
along with the city of Oakland, as he had 
faith in its future. 

It was three years ago that he suc- 
ceeded in borrowing three hundred dollars 
to establish his present business in a very 
modest way, which it is needless to say, 
he paid back out of his first profits. 
Starting in with a little room with four 



bare walls, he worked early and late, and 
by the strictest economy was able to meet 
his obligations, and gradually increased 
his business until the M. & M. Hat Works 
became a prosperous concern, employing 
five people. 

Mr. Moisson now enjoys the distinction 
of inaugurating and establishing the only 
concern selling good serviceable hats at 
the unheard-of price of $1.50 in the city 
of Oakland. He now has a big shipment 
of these hats coming from the East, with 
more following. He still continues the 
cleaning and renovating department of the 
business, handling both ladies' and gentle- 
men's hats, making a specialty of Pan- 
amas. 

With the degree of energy and pluck 
the young proprietor of the M. & M. Hat 
Works has already shown, he should de- 
velop his new concern into one of the 
prominent business houses of the city. 



Goi.nBKRG, BowKX & Company. 



2:« 



Goldberg, Bowen & Company 



We believe it may l)e said that Gold- 
berg, Bowen & Company are the largest 
and most extensive retail grocers in Cali- 
fornia, and the Oakland branch compares 
favorabl}' with any store operated by the 
company. 

This concern was established in 1850, 
and through energetic and efficient busi- 
ness management, perfect organization and 
progressive methods, has developed into 
one of the foremost business institutions 
on the Pacific Coast. 

The main store is located at 242 Sutter 
Street, San Francisco, with branches at 
California and Devisadero Streets and 1401 
Haight Street, and a large warehouse at 
965 Sutter Street, in that city. 

The big Oakland store is located at the 
corner of Thirteenth and Clay Streets and 



carries one of the most complete stocks 
of high-class groceries, wines and liquors 
and tempting delicacies in this city. The 
big store is roomy, light and airy, and 
exceptionally well arranged. 

Under the able management of Mr. E. 
Beardsley, the work of the establishment 
has been thoroughly systematized, and an 
enormous business is daily transacted with 
courtesy and dispatch. The company fur- 
nishes employment to eighty-five people in 
the Oakland store alone, and seventeen 
delivery wagons, seven buggies and eighty- 
seven head of horses are required to take 
care of the deliveries and outside work. 

Goldberg, Bowen & Company gives em- 
ployment to over three hundred people in 
the various stores. 



234 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



The Sunset Grocery Company 




N the selection of the concerns 
in Oakland that have reallj' 
raised the standard of service 
and efficiency in the particular 
line of trade in which they are 
engaged, thereby adding to the general ad- 
vantages of the city, it is entirely consistent 
to mention the Sunset Grocery Company. 

This concern was incorporated about thir- 
teen years ago in this city, and is thoroughly 
an Oakland institution. It is a close corpora- 
tion and the officers of the company have been 
practically the same ever since the business 
was established. A. W. Kirkland is the presi- 
dent of the company, D. H. Mathes, vice-presi- 
dent, and T. L. Fleming, secretary. 

The main store of the company is located 
right in the heart of the city, at 1105 Broad- 
\vaj% and occupies a floor space of about 35 
by 100 feet. Broad counters and shelving run 
almost the entire length of the store on both 
sides, displaying in a most attractive manner 
as complete and as high a class of grocery 
stock as may be found in any store on the 
Pacific Coast. The offices and accounting de- 
partment are located on the second floor. 

When one enters the store he is immedi- 
ately impressed with its cleanliness, its 
roominess and perfect arrangement for 
transacting a big business without any un- 
necessary delay or confusion. The com- 
pany does not try to economize in the mat- 
ter of clerks, cither as to numbers or in the 
employment of low-priced and inefficient 
men, and as a result customers are attended 
to courteously and promptly. 



About four years ago the company decid- 
ed to extend the business into new fields 
and established a branch store at 2156 Cen- 
ter Street, Berkeley, which is conducted on 
the same broad lines and business methods 
as the Broadway store; both establish- 
ments are doing a thriving and ever in- 
creasing business. 

That the Sunset Grocery Company has 
developed into a pretty big business insti- 
tution is shown when it is stated that the 
company furnishes employment to about 
sixty people and pays out in payrolls and 
other disbursements a great deal more than 
$100,000 annually. Forty head of horses 
and a dozen or more wagons are required 
to take care of deliveries. 

The company transacts a large business 
with hospitals, hotels, clubs and public in- 
stitutions, and has secured orders from the 
United States Government, bidding in com- 
petition with San Francisco and Sacramento 
concerns, which indicates that the managers 
of the Sunset Grocery Compau}- know how 
to buy as well as sell. 

The Sunset Grocery Company has been 
successful because its officials have not been 
mere figureheads, but the active managers 
of the business, putting in their brains and 
time as well as their capital. .\s a result 
the buying is done intelligently, sj'stem and 
harmony prevail, and all misunderstandings 
and adjustments are effected with courtesy 
and dispatch. 

This concern has certainly done its share, 
in its own sphere, in the general progress 
and upbuilding of the city. 



Sunset Grocery Company. 



235 




236 



Greater Oakland, 19U 



Bay Cities Home Telephone Company 



The Bay Cities Home Telephone Com- 
pany is the new corporate name of the 
combined Home Telephone Company of 
Alameda County and the Home Telephone 
Company of San Francisco. 

The Home Telephone Company of Ala- 
meda County was organized by the com- 
bining of local capital in 1905 to build and 
operate an independent automatic telephone 
service in the County of Alameda. 

The automatic system, perfected as it is 
today, is the only logical, rapid and secret 
method of telephone communication. 
Though somewhat difficult to describe, the 
principle is very simple and generally well 
imderstood. Briefly the aim of machine or 
automatic service is to place the line at 
all times under the control of the party 
paying for the service. By the operation 
of the dial connection is made with the 
desired line the moment it is completed, re- 
gardless of whether that line terminates 
in the same exchange or one of the branch 
exchanges of the system. The bell is rung 
at the distant station as long as the ring- 
ing button is pressed by the party calling, 
and the line disconnected the instant the 
receiver is placed upon the hook. How 
well the aim has l^een attained can only he 
fully appreciated by a visit to one of the 
exchanges. 

The promoters of this company being 
experienced men in the telephone world 
adopted the automatic principle and began 
the building of a large system, with head- 
quarters at 1369 Franklin Street, Oakland, 
where a commodious building three stories 
and basement of Class A construction was 
built, now the headquarters of the Alameda 
County division. A modern plant being 



the idea, underground conduits were placed 
connecting all the branch exchanges and 
in the entire business district with extra 
ducts provided for the future. 

In obtaining a franchise from the City 
Council of the City of Oakland, the com- 
pany gave the city, free of rent, fifty tele- 
phones and the use of a duct in these con- 
duits and privilege of its pole lines for 
the fire alarm and the police telegraph 
service. This concession is being taken ad- 
vantage of to its fullest extent, a saving 
of thousands of dollars to the tax paj-ers. 
Substations were established to take care 
of the fast growing business, and these, 
like the main office, are of solid fireproof 
construction. The Berkeley office and 
lines were built in 1909 and 1910, and there 
the same general plan of permanent work 
was carried out, conduits throughout the 
entire business district and aerial cables in 
the outlying territory. In Berkeley, as in 
Oakland, the company allowed the city 
the use of telephones, conduits and pole 
lines. 

The working of the automatic switches 
of this system, which is difficult to de- 
scribe, can only be appreciated by a visit 
to one of its exchanges, but to illustrate 
the rapidity of its working, one movement 
of the dial selects the office called and the 
connection with this office is made by 
the time the dial has come back to the 
original position. Then to complete the 
switch, call the number wanted, the selec- 
tors and line switch work as fast as the 
dial is worked and by pressing the ring- 
ing button the attention of the party called 
is attracted. 



Bay Cities Home Telephone Company 



23T 




Main Office Bay Cities Home Telephone Company 



238 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Bay Cities Home Telephone Company 



239 




Corner of -Main Switch Room, showing the few people necessary to handle thousands of Subscribers 



240 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




East Oakland Branch of the Bay Cities Home Telephone Company 




Switches Home Telephone Company, Berkeley Office 



Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company 



241 



Oakland's Telephone Service 



Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Company. 

The telephone service in Oakland, fur- 
nished by The Pacific Telephone and Tele- 
graph Company, one of the Associate Bell 
Companies, is of a high standard and thor- 
oughly covers all sections of the city. 

Four separate central offices are required 
in this service. .\11 of these buildings are 
of modern type of construction and the 
equipment in each is of the latest design. 
In addition to the switchboards and other 
telephone equipment, each building con- 
tains a neatly furnished rest room, in which 
the operators have provided an extensive 
library for their reference and entertain- 
ment during the rest periods. 

Each building also contains a complete 
kitchen and lunch room, in which the op- 
erators are furnished a la carte lunches at 
cost. Approximately 9,000 lunches are 
served monthly at an average cost of eight 
cents, the prices of the different articles 
ranging from two to six cents each. Seven 
people are regularly employed in preparing 
and serving these lunches and an experi- 
enced restaurant man is in charge. 

An operating school is maintained at 
which all new operators are trained. The 
attendance averages one hundred students, 
and twelve instructors are regularly em- 
ployed. The average period of instruction 
is three weeks, during which the operators 
are paid liberally. Upward of 5,000 appli- 
cations for positions as operators are re- 
ceived at this school each year, but only 
about 60 per cent are accepted as eligible. 

The outside lines are practically^ all of 
recent, modern construction and include 
approximately 400 miles of underground 
conduit and trench, extending eight miles 
east and west from the San Francisco bay 
to Elmhurst, and six miles north and 
south from Alameda to within one-quarter 
of a mile of the north county line. The 



outside plant includes the following: 
Miles of underground trench... 54 
Miles of underground conduit. .248 
Miles of underground cable.... 104 

Miles of aerial cable 150 

Miles of pole line 187 

Miles of open wire 361 

The total wire mileage would encircle 
the globe three times. 

A total of 567 people are employed and 
the total annual pay roll is $407,846.00. 

The number of telephones now in opera- 
tion in Oakland is 22,085, from which 38,- 
194,200 calls are placed per annum. Addi- 
tional subscribers are now being obtained 
at the rate of 500 per month, and in a re- 
cently completed study of the future tele- 
phone requirements of Oakland, the Pa- 
cific Company estimated that in the year 
1926 there will be approximately 77,500 
telephones in Oakland. 

A metropolitan "rapid fire" service is 
furnished between Oakland and the prin- 
cipal nearby cities. This service is identi- 
cal with that furnished in the metropolitan 
district of New York City. One combina- 
tion directory is issued for this district, in 
which are listed 129,307 subscribers. 

Between Oakland and San Francisco 
there are five separate submarine cables 
crossing San Francisco Bay, furnishing fa- 
cilities for upward of 8,000 calls per day. 
Additional cables will shortly be laid pro- 
viding facilities for 3,000 more calls per 
day, Facilities to the other points around 
the bay are in a similar proportion. 

An extensive system of long distance 
lines centers at Oakland, providing prompt 
and efficient service to practically every 
town and hamlet in California and extend- 
ing to Canadian points on the north and 
the Mexican border on the south, and cov- 
ering all the principal points in Nevada and 
Arizona. 



242 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




J i2 

O V 

u g 

o r 



= S 

.2 2 
r' ^ 



a; o 
X en 

■> o 



Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company 



243 




Piedmont Office, 4Sth, near Telegraph Avenue, Serving the Northern Residential Section 



244 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company 



245 



,.„„..-.»«• 



M( , y< i ^ | 




Switch Board in Main Office 




A Cozy Place to Rest During: Recess After the Days Work 



246 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Terminal Room, Showing Wire Chief's Test Board 




Main Office Operating Room, Showing I,ong Distance Chief Operator's Desk and Switchboard 



Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company 



247 




1 



Merritt Office, 12th Avenue and East 17th Street, Ser\'ing the Eastern Residential Section 




Conduits entering Manhole 



248 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




The Noon Hour. The Telephone Company Provides Free Luncheon 




I.ayinjr an Underground Trench 



Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company 



249 




UiidergTouiid Cable Entering- Main Office 




Trench Construction Work 



252 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



The Piedmont Hills 

One of the Most Beautiful Resident Places 
in the World 



ROM earliest antiquity to the 
present time men have always 
soiiglit the hills for homes. 
In tlie days of the power of 
Rome the hills overlooking 
the Canipagna were dotted with the villas 
of wealthy citizens and tlie treasure of 
the world was lavished on gardens, ter- 




When Oakland was first settled' the dwell- 
ings clustered on the fiats about the shore 
of the bay. But with the growth of the 
city to power, greatness and wealth, there 
soon developed among men of means this 
old desire to have their homes apart from 
tlie noise of traffic and the dust of labor — 
to liave their homes on the slopes of the 




A Characteristic Home in the Piedmont Hills 
This Garden Preserves its Freshness and Beauty all the Year Around 



races and fountains to make these villas 
truly enchanted places of delight. 

It was upon hill-slopes and hill-crests, 
also, that our Prankish or German ances- 
tors built tiicir castles, and this instinct to 
have a home away from the lowlands is 
still strong in the heart of the modern 
man. 



beautiful partly wooded hills which border 
the city on the east. So here and there 
on the hill-slopes of what is now Piedmont 
rose stately mansions embowered in trees, 
but rapid transit systems were not then 
sufficiently developed so that the man of 
more moderate means could enjoy the rare 
and inexhaustible pleasures of a home over- 



WicKHAM Havens, Inc. 



25a 




O .Q. 

5 3 



bo o 



254 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



looking the most beautiful bay in tlic world 
and distant mountains of blue and amethyst 
through the hazy air of California's eternal 
summer. 

At this juncture of affairs it l)ccame ap- 
parent to far-sighted men that if these hills 
were made accessible by rapid transit fa- 
cilities and ribboned with curving drives 
and boulevards, people of taste and culture 
would eagerly seek these hill-slopes as sites 
for beautiful and distinguished residences. 

The firm of Wickham Havens, Incorpo- 
rated, one of the earliest in the field, for- 



of charming villas surrounded by gardens. 
Where, less than ten years ago, you could 
have heard the sound of the reaper or the 
ploughman's whistle, now along white, 
smooth streets sounds the purr of auto- 
mobile and the clatter of hoofs of riding 
horses. 

The firm of Wickham Havens, Incorpo- 
rated, has constructed at its own expense 
in the development of these hill-slopes some 
thirty miles of macadamized avenues as 
fine as any in the world, has made 70 
miles of concrete sidewalks, has planted 




A Residence in the Piedmont Hills on Property Developed by Wickham Havens, Incorporated 



tunately acquired control of an almost con- 
tinuous area of these lovely hill-slopes em- 
bracing more than a thousand acres, and 
following a wise and far-sighted plan, set out 
to make this spot, already so wonderfully 
endowed by nature, one of the most glo- 
riously beautiful home-places in the world. 
Nearly ten years have elapsed since this 
great work was begun and an almost un- 
believable transformation has been wrought. 
Where, less than ten years ago, the mea- 
dow lark sang to the poppy and wheat 
fields rippled in the sun, now along curv- 
ing avenue after curving avenue are rows 



many thousands of shade trees, and has as- 
sisted in the establishing of parks and beau- 
tified certain entrances with stately pillars 
so that from boundary to boundary of 
"Beautiful Piedmont" it can properly be 
said that there is not one unsightly feature. 
In this wonderful home park there is 
not a single shop of any sort, no saloons, 
not even any residence that violates the 
pervasive spirit of beauty. For while in 
the Piedmont hills a graduated system of 
Vuilding restrictions has made possible the 
cottage of the artisan as well as the man- 
sion of the millionaire, the thing has been 



WicKHAM Havens, Inc. 



255 




^ o 



H 5 



256 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



so well arranged that these are by no 
means in juxtaposition. One part of the 
hills is reserved for very costly dwellings, 
while another part no less singularly beauti- 
ful, gives place to charming and tasteful 
cottages. 

So vast a scheme, so well carried out, has 
naturally given a wonderful inspiration to 
the architects of the west. Houses built 
on flat land present no new problems to the 
architect, but a house for an irregularly 
shaped site on a greater or less slope, with 
vistas of hill or vale or mountain which 
it is desired to make the most of, give him 
new and absorbing problems and make 
room for fresh and delightful effects. 

It is for this reason that more original 
and artistic results have been achieved in 
the Piedmont Hills in residential archi- 
tecture than perhaps anywhere else in this 
country. The influence of the mission 
architecture of Spanish days is strongly ap- 
parent, and the Italian influence is seen in 
the very liberal use of the pergola, a fea- 
ture that is in this climate soon lost to 
sight in a wealth of roses and climbing 
'/ines. 

Is it any wonder then that each year 
there is a greater number of people seeking 



homes in the Piedmont Hills? There the 
air is clear and free from dust and smoke. 
The noise of traffic, the clangor of bells 
and whistles comes faint and mellowed by 
distance from the city below. The call of 
the meadow lark is blown with the fragrance 
of the flowers from the hill-slopes above. 
About the houses roses bloom all year 
long, the clipped lawn preserves its fresh- 
ness, the long leaves of the palms rustle 
in the breeze, the tall eucalyptus gives a 
pleasant shade, and stretched out like a very 
panorama is the blue bay with its white 
sails. Lake Merritt with its pleasure craft, 
rugged Tamalpais across the waters to the 
north, the Golden Gate with its steamers 
bound to all the corners of the earth, the 
city of San Francisco lost in her smudge 
of smoke, and in serried array the blue 
mountains stretching along the peninsula to- 
the south until they are lost in the dis- 
tance. 

Here is no fog, no bitter wind, no snow 
nor hail. Perhaps in all the world there is 
no place so wonderfully endowed by na- 
ture and adorned by art as are the Pied- 
mont Hills, as a site for the perfect resi- 
dence, the ideal home. 




B. L. Spence 



257 




B. L. Spence 

Whose Slogan is, "Why Pay Rent?' 



1 


^s 



HE man with ambition, but 
with moderate means, is no 
longer compelled to live in 
crowded conditions so well 
known in the old city life. 
Moderate means of transportation has won- 
derfully increased the dimensions and pos- 
sibilities in all American cities, but in no 
place has this been more exemplified than 
in the region contiguous to San Francisco 
Bay. 

The development of the Oakland Traction 
Company lines, the Key Route lines, the 
Southern Pacific suburban electrics, have 
all tended to make every point on the Ala- 
meda County side of the bay especially ac- 



cessible, not only to the business and manU' 
facturing centers of Oakland and vicinity, 
but to the business center of San Francisco, 

The biggest result, and one that stands out 
strongest in .the admiration of every lover 
of progressive growth of cities, is the mil- 
lions of dollars' worth of new homes that 
have been added to Oakland and Berkeley 
during the past five years, the large tracts 
of lands that have been wrested from the: 
farmer and truck grower, the wooded hill- 
side slopes, all have been subdivided and 
dotted with new homes from the modest 
bungalow to palatial residences. 

Modest fortunes have been accumulated 
by the shrewd home-buyer that has been 



258 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




B. L. Spence 



259 



willing to sell and move into new and in- 
creasing territories, each time taking a 
profit and each time locating in more desir- 
able neighborhood, either as to esthetic sur- 
roundings or absolute certainty of easy sale 
at an advanced price. 

The old idea that only a regular specula- 
tor has a chance to make money in the real 
estate market has been completely over- 
ruled and it has remained for the home- 
buyer to show that with judgment and 
shrewdness he, too, can add to his worldly 
possessions without any interference with 
his usual vocations. 

While it is true that homes have been 
sold on more or less easy terms, yet it re- 
mained for one of Oakland's energetic 
younger real estate men, B. L. Spence, to 
systematically bring the selling of homes 
for all classes of purchasers into prominence 
with the rent payers. 

Mr. Spence, having spent seven years as 
manager of the sales department for A. J. 
Snj'der, resigned his position in May, 1909, 
with the ultimate aim of embarking in the 
business of real estate broker for himself, 
but while he was perfectly familiar with all 
conditions and developments in real estate 
circles in Alameda County, having been a 
close student during his association with 
Mr. Snyder, yet he felt that desire to know 
more of the other cities of the State and 
their ways of conducting the same lines of 
business. Taking his family, he made a two 
months' sojourn in Southern California, vis- 
iting Los Angeles and its numerous sub- 
urbs, Riverside, San Bernardino, and the 
other attractive valley towns. Returning to 
the northern part of the State, he spent 
some time visiting all the larger places in 
every one, assimilating ideas for homes and 
home-building, that when he embarked in 
the real estate business on January 1, 1910, 
he was as thoroughly versed in what he was 
going to do and how he was going to do it 
as was possible to outline beforehand. His 
success in handling the business was in a 
short time the talk of Real Estate Row. 
Within three months from the time he com- 
menced he had so increased his business 
that he was compelled to enlarge his of- 
fices, having increased his sales force to five 
men, and even now is on the eve of moving 



to larger and more commodious quarters at 
the northwest corner of Twelfth and Broad- 
way in the building being remodeled on that 
corner. 

Mr. Spence has kindly furnished a synopsis 
of his year's experience and successes. He 
says: "Believing as I do that the home is 
the foundation on which American citizen- 
ship rests, and believing, as I do, that Oak- 
land is the most ideal homesite for a large 
portion of that good citizenship, it seemed 
to me that I ought to be able to interest a 
good many people to own their own homes 
that were not doing so. 

"I started in on the 'Why Pay Rent?' 
idea because I was a firm believer in the 
great possibilities that it gave one for get- 
ting on in the world. I suppose I might 
say it was an idea born of experience, and 
while I am somewhat averse to personal 
experiences for the general public, I don't 
mind telling you that I have right here in 
my desk the original contract where I 
bought my first piece of property in Oak- 
land less than ten years ago and paid only 
$100 down and $25 a month. I made about 
$1,200 out of that piece of property, but the 
ink was hardly dry on the check of that 
sale before I had it in another home. This 
had been a great lesson to me, and I told 
the home-seeker the same story in another 
form, by showing the results possible by 
paying monthly installments and securing a 
home. When I could show a possible buyer 
that paying $25 a month rent amounted to 
$3,950 in ten years, it didn't take long to 
convince him that he better be paying part 
of that, monthly, to himself. There were 
several points necessary to take into con- 
sideration in the carrying out of my pro- 
posed plan. First, I knew I must have the 
right kind of properties at the right kind 
of prices. The prevailing opinion that the 
installment buyer must pay an exorbitantly 
higher price than the cash buyer must be 
reduced to a plain mistake. It wasn't espe- 
cially easy to convince these builders that 
installments and interest were as good or 
better than cash, but I succeeded with a few 
•and had a choice list to begin with. At the 
end of January, with nineteen sales of 
homes to my credit, it was no trouble to 



260 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



secure all the best homes at the best prices. 
February outdid January and March was 
the best of the three, and after that it was 
simply a question of getting the right prop- 
erties, and my buyers were sending their 
friends, and the chain was increasing. 

"A number of these home-buyers have 
sold during the year at an advance and 
these have become in turn buyers of other 
homes. While home-selling has been the 
main business conducted in my office dur- 
ing the year, it has been by no means all. 
I have found a fairly good market for lots. 



I have been unusually successful in dispos- 
ing of small bunches of lots to builders. 

"The prospects for the coming year are 
far brighter than for the past, and I am as 
fully prepared for it as I was last year. I 
am busily engaged now in the detail of 
starting about fifty new homes that are be- 
ing built especially to meet the require- 
ments of my office, and I have no hesita- 
tion in saying that I can satisfy nine out of 
every ten who want a home, whether at 
$3,000 or $20,000, and whether they want to 
pay $100 or $1,000 cash." 




Laymance Real Estate Company 



261 



What the Development of the Foothills Has 
Meant to Oakland's Growth 

^i; Fred E. Reed, of the Laymance Company 




X the foothill districts of Oak- 
land has been established the 
Mecca toward which the suc- 
cessful Californian turns his 
eyes and stops in his search 
for a permanent home. The attraction 
which these low-er hills have ofifered for the 
making of homes has played no small part 
in the marvelous growth of Oakland which 
IS apparent on every hand. 

The story of the great development of 
ihis section of splendid residences known 
;is the Oakland foothills is largely told in 
1 he history of the last four years. The rec- 
ords show that more than $27,000,000 went 
into buildings in Oakland during this 
jieriod. The same records show that a 
Ihird as much went into modern street 
%vork and other permanent public improve- 
ments in the same area during these same 
lour years, and, while the growth of all 
jections of the city contributed to this 
spendid showing, the rapid upbuilding ot 
ihe foothill residence districts has been 
lesponsible for the greatest share of the 
large total. 

Visitors Find Them Out. 

The advantages of the lower foothills 
<i Oakland as sites for homes became fully 
appreciated when the people from the other 
«ide of the bay came to Oakland in April, 
1906. Piedmont, Claremont and the adja- 
■ ent Broadway Hill sections, now Rock 
Ridge, had long been known to a few. The 
Spring and Summer of 1906 made them 
know-n to thousands of others. These new- 
comers found that they could leave fhe 
center of business activity at Fourteenth 
Street and Broadway and within a few min- 
utes go by the best street car transporta- 



tion service in the country to the midst of 
the residence districts of Piedmont and 
Claremont. There, on those hills, they 
saw home sites, from which they could 
look down on the cities about the bay with 
over a third of the population of California 
in those cities at their feet. They found 
themselves there as far removed from the 
dirt and turmoil of the work-a-day world 
as though they had traveled fifty miles into 
the mountains. 

Villa Homes Multiply. 

Instead of having to go miles away for 
the quiet restfulness of a sheltered home, 
they could be within a few minutes' ride 
of their business places, and in that short 
ride they had glided over the smooth 
streets of Oakland, through the quiet lanes 
of the Claremont Country Club or pass the 
suburban homes of the nearby hill districts. 
They saw stretched out at their feet on one 
hand great cities and on the other the 
rugged natural beauty of wooded canyons 
and the towering heights of the Contra 
Costa range. It was the ideal location for 
the homes of men who sought rest from 
the day's business, but who must be near 
enough to take up the work of the day 
following. 

Then the villa homes, with all the con- 
veniences and luxuries of modern life, be- 
gan to appear along the Claremont, Pied- 
mont and Broadway hills. Each year has 
seen them added to until now they cannot 
be counted in terms short of thousands. 
On these hills are to be seen today from the 
sidewalks in the heart of Oakland's busi- 
ness section hundreds of residences that 
will successfully stand the test of compari- 
son with the best architectural beauty to 
be found in America. 



262 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




The work of the l,ayniance Real Estate Company in this beautiful section adjoining the home of the 
Claremont Country Club has meant much to Rock Ridge— much to the City of Oakland 



Laymance Real Estate Company 



263 



The public records tell that there has 
been in the whole stretch of foothill lands 
reaching from Piedmont to North Berke- 
ley one of the most consistent and rapid 
increases in land valuations to be found in 
any city in the United States for the same 
period. 

Five years ago the assessed valuation of 
the land in the Claremont Hill district was 
$250 an acre. Today that same property is 
assessed for $3500 an acre. Five years 
ago the assessed valuation of the Pied- 
mont Hill section was $500 an acre. To- 
day it also is assessed at $3,500 an acre. 
Five years ago the land in Rock Ridge, 
which occupies all of the lower hill terri- 
tory between Claremont and Piedmont, was 
assessed at $250 an acre. This latest sub- 
division in the Broadwa}' hills was only 
placed on the market in October, 1909, but 
the same increase is expected there. The 
assessor has but kept pace with the actual 
selling values, but his figures have shown 
an increase of nearh- twelve-fold in these 
foothill sections within the last five years. 

No small part in this development has 
been the work of the Laymance Real Es- 
tate Company, one of the earliest estab- 
lished and best known real estate firms of 
Oakland. This firm early saw the future 
that must come to these beautiful foot- 
hill properties and positive of this fu- 
ture secured the exclusive agency for the 
last remaining portion between Oakland 
and Berkeley, known as Rock Ridge. 
Spread out over 176 of the choicest acres 
in the Broadway hills, Rock Ridge had 
been given its name over forty years before 
by Horatio P. Livermore and his brother 
Charles, its former owners, because of a 
single rock of immense size standing on 
the hillside overlooking the city. For years 
that portion of the property not occupied 
by the Livermore brothers was used by the 
cities of Oakland and Berkeley as a picnic 
ground, and as such is known to all the 
older residents of the East Bay section. It 
is a property peculiarly fortunate in its 
location with a wide frontage directly on 
Broadway, the main street of Oakland, 
close in to the heart of the business sec- 
tion. And fortunate, too, in that at the 
time the Laymance Company became in- 
terested in it the hills of Claremont and 
Piedmont immediately adjoining to the 



north and south had already been im- 
proved and were admittedly the finest res- 
idence properties in Alameda County. 

Realizing how important it was to the 
city of Oakland that Rock Ridge — this 
last of its foothill properties — be made as 
beautiful as possible, three years were spent 
in planning by the Laymance Company be- 
fore a lot was offered for sale. They did 
not rest content with their experience 
gained with twenty-two years of a success- 
ful general real estate business. On the 
contrary, ideas were gathered from all the 
largest cities of California and the East, 
with the aim of building Rock Ridge to 
an ideal residence place that would be 
a pride to the builders; one that, together 
with Claremont and Piedmont, would make 
Oakland known far and wide as a mag- 
nificent example of modern city-building. 

With this aim constantly in mind — to 
make Rock Ridge the finest residence prop- 
erty in all California — the Laymance Com- 
pany began to work out their plans. They 
determined first of all that the building 
sites should all be large; that lots should 
be cut into properties ranging from sixty 
to three hundred and fifty feet in width, 
and that further subdivision should not be 
permitted. They determined that homes 
must set well back from street lines; and 
the minimum cost was made the highest in 
Northern California, varying from $3,500 to 
$:30,000, depending on the location in the 
property. They further provided that once 
an owner had built on his property he 
must keep up his garden in conformity with 
the majority of the gardens in the block 
in which his property was located. That 
no tree should be cut without permission. 
Nor should there lie a board fence in the 
entire Rock Ridge district to a height 
greater than three feet. Board fences were 
to be replaced by open wire fences cov- 
ered with vines or by lattice and green 
hedge effects. Rock Ridge was to be set 
apart for all time for the man who cared 
to maintain a beautiful home surrounded 
by others of like character, and all having 
the protection that only such restrictions 
could give. 

The plan followed in improving this 
splendid subdivision was one that could not 
fail to bring out the full natural beauty 
of Rock Ridge. Winding roads were 



264 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Picturesque Rock Ridge whose native charm has been increased by the careful, thoughtful 
planning of the I^aymance Real Estate Company 



Laymance Real Estate Company 



265 




With the charm of Rock Ridge all around, one forgets that the heart of the city is but 12 minutes away 



266 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



brought from Broadway up along the hill- 
sides, following the contour of the ground 
in every instance; heavy cement curbs re- 
placed the wooden curbs usual to most 
properties; wide parkways planted with 
beautiful flowers and shrubbery were made 
to border beautiful streets laid with as- 
phalt macadam; while wide-spreading, date 
palms were planted along the boulevard 
leading from Broadway to the heart of 
the property. Public parks were provided 
for in the scheme of subdivision, all to be 
beautifully improved by the first owners 
and accepted by the city on their comple- 
tion. A beautiful Italian Renaissance en- 
trance — one of the most magnificent that 
ever fronted a private park residence tract 
in the history of city-building — was erect- 
ed on Rock Ridge Boulevard at the Broad- 
way entrance to the properties. A plan as 
a whole altogether elaborate; yet so suc- 
cessfully has it been carried out that one 
wonders at the simplicity of it all. 

The results of this planning have been 
all that the Laymance Company had hoped. 
Rock Ridge was an instant success; sales 
within the first twenty months exceeded 
$550,000. Homes costing up into the tens 
of thousands began to be built on the hill- 
sides of Rock Ridge — homes that mean 
much for the future of Rock Ridge. And 
much for Oakland. As the months have 
gone by hundreds of buyers came from all 
parts of California; they came from the 
Hawaiian Islands, from the mining country 
of Nevada and from Arizona; from the 



Rocky Mountain region and from States 
further east, until now there can be found 
represented among the property owners of 
Rock Ridge (this latest and last of the 
hill districts to be opened) men of every 
section of the country. Piedmont has 
grown into a well-ordered community of 
magnificent homes almost in a season. 
Claremont became dotted with villas and 
mansions almost as rapidly. Rock Ridge 
has shown an initial growth which prom- 
ises a future even more beautiful than the 
other two. 

Practically all of Rock Ridge has a won- 
derfully beautiful marine view; that magnifi- 
cent panorama of San Francisco Bay which 
can be obtained only from Oakland, and 
then only when one is directly opposite the 
Golden Gate. Through the trees are sylvan 
landscapes, beautiful views of Claremont 
and the Contra Costa hills, while the en- 
tire bay region spreads out on the plain 
below. 

The time spent in making a visit to Rock 
Ridge will be used most profitably. The 
view from its hillsides is one of surpass- 
ing beauty. As you stand on its highest 
places and look out over the picture be- 
low, as you take in the view of hills and 
sea with the virile cities of Oakland and 
Berkeley spread between, you'll find new 
conceptions, new inspirations for the city 
in which you live. 

Such is Rock Ridge, a part of the city 
below and yet removed from it. A quiet, 
restful place for beautiful homes. 




Laymance Real Estate Com 



PANY 



267 




In Rock Ridge where meadow larks and quail announce the 



coming: of day, and the air has a woodsy odor 



268 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




In Beautiful Rock Kidge where the Architect works hand in hand with Bountiful Nature 



The Realty Syndicate 



269 



Realty Syndicate 




HE REALTY SYNDICATE, 
which will take an active 
part in the developments 
of Oakland during the next 
H ten years, is one of the 
wealthiest and largest corporations of the 
kind in the world. They are the owners 
of more than $10,000,000 worth of real 
estate in and adjacent to Alameda County 
and hold over $8,000,000 worth of stock 
and bonds of the Oakland Traction Co., 
the Key Route System and the United 
Properties Co. 

The tremendous developments in store 
for Oakland during the next ten years 
will see great activities on the part of the 
Realty Syndicate. This corporation is in 
the building and real estate business on 
a gigantic scale. They purchase virgin 
ground in the best environment on the 
most advantageous acreage basis, hold the 
property until the city has built up to it, 
then put in streets, sidewalks, sewers, etc., 
and turn acreage into city lots at a big 
profit. The Realty Syndicate has been 
given credit for the upbuilding of Oakland 
and they have probably done more for this 
community than any other one organiza- 
tion located in Oakland. At the present 
time they are devoting a large proportion 
of their energies to the building of homes 
for individuals, which they sell on favor- 
able terms, providing the same are located 
upon lots purchased from the corporation. 
They loan the home-builder money with 
which to buy the property and allow him 
to repay the same in fixed monthly in- 
stallments, the deferred payments bearing 
current rates of interest. 

The Syndicate is not compelled to wait, 
as is the individual, upon the completion 
of corporation or municipal facilities. They 
bring together the complete home and the 
home buyer, develop neighborhoods of a 
high class nature in absolutely new dis- 
tricts, build carlines and furnish transpor- 



tation and have been instrumental, to a 
very great extent, in making Oakland one 
of the most beautiful home building cities 
in the country. This corporation also re- 
ceives the surplus of several thousand in- 
vestors throughout California, who are 
secured by an issuance of Realty Syndi- 
cate Investment Certificates paying them 
6 per cent. The corporation finds that 
they can well afford to pay this amount 
of interest to investors for the reason that 
they gain a permanency of investment; 
that is to say, by placing their securities 
over a wide territory in the hands of thou- 
sands of investors, they avoid the risk 
taken with bank loans, where six or eight 
banks might, in a financial panic, call for 
payments at an inopportune time. 

Banking precedent requires that a bank 
shall not loan money in large quantities 
for long periods. If the Realty Syndicate 
were to depend upon the banks for money 
to develop their vast resources, they would 
at all times be subject to the possibility 
of being called upon to raise from three to 
four million dollars in 30, 60 or 90 days, 
which, of course, could only be done, during 
hard times, by a sacrifice of a portion of 
their holdings. 

On the other hand, if capital invested 
with the Realty Syndicate is of a per- 
manent character, with definite dates of 
maturity, they not only know at all times 
exactly how they stand financially, but 
have plenty of money to take advantage 
of hard times and can actually profit dur- 
ing such periods by making purchases of 
hundreds of acres of land at rock-bottom 
prices. 

Old and experienced investors agree that 
hard times must be faced periodically, and 
that such periods can be made to reap 
immense profits if properly anticipated by 
the right financial methods and by a sub- 
stantial, permanent cash reserve. The 
Realty Syndicate cannot hope to depend 



270 



Greater Oakland, J911 




The Realty Syndicate 



271 



upon the banks at such times; therefore, 
to protect their clients, and be able to 
take advantage of the low prices that al- 
ways develop when money is theoretically 
scarce, they prefer to take more time and 
build up permanently substantial assets 
rather than to adopt the easier and quicker 
method of going to the banks and being 
dependent upon the whims of Wall Street 
and the unavoidable demands that banks 
are forced to make when money tightens 
up. 

The second reason why the Realty Syn- 
dicate finds it better to cater to a widely 
scattered clientele is because all banks 
should rightfully give first privilege to local 
investors. They could not expect the banks 
of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Fresno, San 
Jose, Stockton and Sacramento to finance 
their great enterprises here in Oakland 
when they are in duty bound to loan their 
money in their own cities for local improve- 
ments. 

Using as they do, all of the time, from 
two to four million dollars, their Oakland 
banks would be unable to finance them 
without handicapping other great public 
and private enterprises now being carried 
out in Oakland by concerns other than 
The Realty Syndicate. 

As the largest owners of real estate in 
Oakland and Alameda County, The Syndi- 
cate, for its own good, can best profit by 
leaving Oakland banks free to loan their 
surplus to the local public service corpora- 
tions and smaller institutions of the com- 
munity, to the home builder, the real es- 
tate man, the merchant, the manufacturer 
and the contractor, who, aided by this 
money, build up the community and make 
The Syndicate's assets more valuable with- 
out any effort on their part. 



The third reason why this corporation 
prefers a multitude of small investors 
scattered everywhere is because every 
investor in its securities is naturally an 
interested party in all its enterprises. At 
present. The Syndicate has from 4,000 to 
5,000 certificate holders. Every one of 
these certificate holders has absolute con- 
fidence in the institution and lasting friend- 
ships are promoted that mean much in a 
business of this character. 

At any time they desired they could 
probably call upon these 4,000 or 5,000 
certificate holders and receive from them 
from 20,000 to 30,000 names of people in- 
terested in buying land in Oakland. Some 
day the Realty Syndicate will subdivide 
its great holdings upon a gigantic plan 
and at that time their clientele of thou- 
sands of certificate holders will be of tre- 
mendous value in locating prospective 
purchasers of their subdivision offerings. 

That The Syndicate's ideas in this mat- 
ter are founded upon a sound basis is evi- 
denced by ample precedent in other cities 
and are also further proven to be correct 
by their great success here in Oakland, 
where, in sixteen years, they have built 
up probably the largest and strongest in- 
stitution of the kind in the United States. 

The Realty Syndicate have developed 
nearly one hundred residential tracts in 
Oakland, many of which have been almost 
entirely built up. They are in addition to 
these, the owners of valuable water-front 
holdings and undeveloped acreage back of 
Piedmont worth many millions of dollars. 
They occupy their own building, a Class 
"A," ten-story, million-dollar structure on 
Broadway, near Fourteenth St. F. M. 
Smith ("Borax Smith") is president of the 
corporation. 



272 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



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274 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Frank M. Smith 

The Financier-Philanthropist, Whose Foresight and Keen Appreciation 

of the Natural Advantages of Oakland Have Materially Aided 

Its Rapid Growth and Marvelous Development 

By James King Steele 




IGH on the hills above Oak- 
land, overlooking the lovely 
city, whose tall office build- 
ings, thrusting themselves up 
abruptly from a sea of foli- 
age, proclaim the transition from a town 
to a metropolis, is Arbor Villa, a stately 
home, set in a beautiful floral park. The 
house is huge, covering an immense area, 
and is equipped with all manner of lux- 
urious comforts and conveniences. Wide 
porches surround it. great conservatories 
adjoin it, roses and climbing shrubs cover 
its walls. About are broad lawns, spread- 
ing trees and flowers — a wonderland of 
floral beauty bespeaking praise for the con- 
stant care and attention which the garden- 
ers have given it for so many years. Be- 
low the park lies Oakland, stretching away 
in unbroken continuity to the water front. 
Then appears the blue Bay of San Fran- 
cisco, with its fortified islands gleaming in the 
sun, and San Francisco showing sharply in 
the distance. Beyond is the Golden Gate, a 
gap in the mountain wall whose serrated 
crests pierce the skyline to north and south — 
a wonderful panorama, which for variety, size 
and beauty has no equal in the world. 

As one walks about the beautiful grounds 
of this superb home, he comes suddenly 
upon a structure which at first glance seems 
hardly in keeping with its surroundings. 
This is a rough wooden cabin, such as is 
commonly seen in the mountains. Before 
it are several tree stumps and logs. The 
incongruity of this house of rough boards, 
in the midst of such luxury and beauty, is 
striking, and demands an explanation. A 



printed card beside the door gives this, and 
at once it is seen that, instead of being 
out of place, it is most fitting and appro- 
priate. This is the story on the card : "This 
cabin was built in the year '72 by Mr. 
Smith, built with his own hands, lived in 
by him during the time of his early dis- 
covery of borax at Teels Marsh, Nevada."' 

The Httle cabin, picked up bodily from 
its place in the wilds of Nevada, trans- 
ported and re-erectcd in the midst of such 
splendid surroundings, throws an interest- 
ing sidelight on the character of F. M. 
Smith. 

Too many men who have gained wealth 
are prone to forget the time when they did 
not have as much of this world's goods as 
they now have. They. "turn their backs upon 
the ladder by which they did ascend" and 
look with scorn on the things of days gone 
by. To all such the rude little cabin in the 
midst of present luxury should prove a 
valuable lesson. 

It was from the door of this cabin, which 
Mr. Smith built with his own hands in 
1872, that he looked out each day over the 
shimmering surface of Teels Marsh in Ne- 
vada. 

At that time, Smith was engaged in filling 
a wood contract for several of the ore 
mills in the neighborhood of Columbus, Ne- 
vada. Like many another young man of 
those early days, he had gone with the 
crowd into the mining camps of the great 
silver State. But, unlike the most of them, 
he realized that a man must have income 
if he would succeed, so he took up sup- 
plying wood to the camps, as a business. 



Frank M. Smith 



275 




FRANK M. SMITH 



276 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



and at the same time kept on prospecting, 
searching, "testing and hoping to find a 
valuahle mining property." 

It was while engaged in this work of 
running his wood camps and prospecting 
during all the spare time lie could find 
that Smith first discovered the borax de- 
posits of Teels Marsh. 

The story of this discovery, told in 1005, 
in his own words to a gathering of the 
salesmen of the Pacific Coast Borax Com- 
pany, of which he is president, is intensely 
interesting. 

'T owned two or three wood ranches, had 
a big band of pack animals and was doing 
quite a prosperous business in fuel supply. 
Incidentally I had acquired quite a number 
of wildcat mining claims. 

"Just before my discovery I had erected 
a good, comfortable cabin in the mouth of a 
narrow gulch that overlooked the marsh 
where the cotton balls were being dug out. 
It also commanded a view of Teel's Marsh, 
which had not yet been thought of as a 
borax producer. 

"As I tramped over the hills locating the 
timber I could distinctly see the gleaming 
white surface of Teel's Marsh, and one day 
I decided to make a tour of investigation. 
I took two woodchoppers with me and it did 
not take long to find that the marsh was cov- 
ered with a heavy incrustation of a crystal-like 
substance. Rude tests showed it to be borax, 
and, as it afterwards proved. I had chanced 
upon the very richest section of the deposits. 

"We made a preliminary location that day 
and I gathered samples and took them to an 
assayer at Columbus. Without waiting for the 
assay I established a dry camp in the marsh, 
took down provisions and pack animals and 
proceeded to locate several thousand acres, 
most of which afterwards proved worthless. 

"After setting the men at work, I started on 
my regular round of visits to the wood ranches 
and then on to Columbus. Here I found that 
the analysis pronounced the specimens the very 
finest borate of soda that had been found up 
to that time. So I secured two associates at 
Columbus, laid in fresh supplies and started 
back for Teel's Marsh. 

"I was so impressed by the assays that T 
crowded the trip as much as possible and made 
the last of the journey by night, arriving at 
camp about midnight, guided by the camp- 



lires. It was well I did so. for there I found 
a friend of the assayer who had been given 
a tip and had gone out in the hope of being 
able to forestall me in locations. But next 
morning he started of¥ on a wild goose chase 
and before he had secured his bearings I liafi 
the property well located. 

"Up to this time it had been customary to 
locate borax land under the saline law, a lo- 
cator taking up 160 acres, but in the tall of 
1872 Commissioner Drummond decided that 
borax lands must be located as placer lands, 
allowing only 20 acres to each locator. 

"So our claims had to be all relocated and 
this added immensely to the trouble and ex- 
pense. Moreover the borax land was very 
'spotted.' only a small portion of it suffi- 
ciently rich to pay for working. 

"Even at that time borax was worth 30 cents 
a pound, but it soon dropped to only a frac- 
tion of that, and it is interesting to note that 
grain at that time cost $140 a ton and hay $60 
a ton at Columbus, which was 25 miles from 
Teel's Marsh. 

"As soon as possible after securing satisfac- 
tory title to enough of the borax-bearing land, 
I made arrangements through my brother with 
a Chicago company to put up a plant, and the 
production of borax was then begun on a com- 
mercial scale. It was little known except to 
the druggists and blacksmiths, and druggists 
were retailing it at 25 cents per ounce. The 
total consumption in the United States at that 
time was only about 600 tons per annum, 
nevertheless before our products got onto the 
market the price had fallen to about 10 cents 
a pound. 

"Teel's Marsh had been operated almost con- 
tinuously since the first plant was started, and 
for many years was the principal source of 
supply. The total production of the marsh 
had (to 1905) probably reached 17,000 tons. 

"For a long time after the discovery of Teel's 
Marsh every one in the borax business thought 
that the borate of soda crusts on the marsh 
and the cotton balls were the only available 
natural sources for securing borax. But all 
this time the teams which were hauling sup- 
plies and prospectors into Death Valley were 
crunching and grinding to pieces a ledge of 
material that assayed higher in borax than 
the marsh incrustations which we were work- 
ing. But one day we had the ledge in the 
Calico Mountains assayed and found it con- 



Frank M. Smith 



277 




278 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



tained more boric acid tlian the cotton balls. 
W. T. Coleman was associated with me in 
this discovery and it was named Colmanite 
after him. 

"On the marsh mining borax had been a 
placer proposition. Tlie men gathered it up 
in winrows, shoveled it into wagons and hauled 
it to the refining works. But now it became 
a genuine quartz proposition, with ore in a 
well-defined ledge. The mine is in the Calico 
Mountains, among the very roughest sort of 
desert mountainous country, twelve miles from 
Daggett, the nearest railroad point. All the 
supplies, including the water and fuel, had to 
be hauled there and the ore must be hauled 
to the railroad for shipment to the refinery. 

"The workings are now (1905) over 600 
feet underground, the point of profitable work- 
ing is near at hand, and we are now taking 
up the development of the deposits in Death 
Valley, about which more will be said later." 

Following the discovery of borax and the 
placing of it on the market in sufficient quan- 
tities to be of commercial value, the price 
dropped from 30 to 10 cents per pound; and 
here the genius of Mr. Smith was again dem- 
onstrated. He realized that to make borax 
mining profitable there must be a demand for 
it. And so he set about to educate people up 
to its value as a detergent, antiseptic and 
household commodity and thus create a 
market. 

He had already organized the Pacific Coast 
Borax Company and erected a great refinery 
at West Alameda, California, which refinery, 
it may be noted in passing, was the first re- 
inforced concrete building in the United States, 
and pioneered the way for this now popular 
method of construction. The borax was 
brought from the mines in Death Valley and 
the Calico Mountains to the railroad and 
thence to the refinery. 

Mojave is the nearest railroad point to 
Death Valley and the dreary wretchedness of 
the trip from Death Valley to Mojave could 
not be pictured. For 167 miles the road 
stretches away, encountering one obstacle 
after another. There is more than 50 miles 
of desert to be crossed without a drop of 
water, with the winds blowing incessantly, 
carrying clouds of sand, and the sun beating 
down unmercifully. There are rugged pre- 
cipitous mountains to be crossed, with im- 



passable grades over which heavy loads must 
be hauled with safety; there is one strip of 
40 miles where the road raises on an average 
grade of 100 feet to the mile. The difficulties 
at first seemed insurmountable. 

When development began there was no mode 
of conveyance which answered the require- 
ments. So the problem was taken up, under 
direction of Mr. Smith, by J. S. W. Perry, 
the superintendent of the company's mines in 
tlie Calico Mountains. His task was to con- 
struct a vehicle strong enough to stand the 
tremendous strain of the road and the dread- 
ful heat of the region and large enough to 
carry a carload of borax and to take it through 
the rocky canyons and up the precipitous 
mountains of the Panamint range. 

As a result Mr. Perry gave the company 
the largest wagons in the world and the fam- 
ous 20-mule team. Feed and water stations 
were established along the route. At some 
places water tanks on wheels were used ; the 
team going in fills the tank and hauls it to the 
next station, and the team coming out returns 
the empty tank to the nearest spring. The 
tanks were necessarily made of iron because 
of the terrible heat of that region — wooden 
tanks would dry out and fall to pieces as 
soon as partly empty. 

It takes a pretty big wagon to load half a 
carload of borax onto it. But when that 
wagon must be hauled through deep beds of 
sand and up steep inclines and down sharp 
declivities, all the time grinding over rocks 
and smashing against boulders under a burn- 
ing sun, it calls for something very unusual 
in the way of wagonmaking. And the wagons 
that the 20-mule teams haul are unusual. 
The rear wheels are seven feet in diameter, 
with a tire eight inches wide and five inches 
thick. The forward wheels are five feet in 
diameter. The spokes are of split oak five 
and one-half inches at the butt. The forward 
axletrees are made of solid steel bars three 
and one-fourth inches square. The bed of the 
wagon is sixteen feet long, four feet wide and 
six feet deep, and the distance between the 
wheels is six feet. The whole wagon weighs 
7,800 pounds and they cost more than $900 
apiece to make them. Ten of these wagons 
were built and they were in constant use for 
five years without a single breakdown. Some 
of them have been used recently to haul 
borax from the Calico Mountains to Dag- 
gett. 



Frank M. Smith 



279 




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280 



Greater Oakland, 191 1 



It requires considerable motive power to 
handle these immense wagons, for two are 
generally coupled together, one behind the 
other, so that the load is a full carload. But 
the team, made up of two horses and eighteen 
mules, handles the load with comparative ease, 
and covers from seventeen to twenty miles 
a day. 

The horses attached to the tongue are great, 
big 2,800-pound teams, and ahead of them 
stretch the mules with their doubletrees geared 
to a chain leading from the front axle. The 
most tractable pair of mules is put in front, 
while the more fractious, the stubborn and the 
vicious teams are placed between. The nigh 
leader has a shorter strap from the left jaw 
than the other mule has, and from this bridle 
a braided cotton rope about half an inch in 
diameter runs back through the bridle of each 
mule to the hand of the driver, who sits on 
a box in the front of the wagon, some eight 
feet above the ground, or on the "high 
wheeler." This braided cotton line is the 
famous "jerk line," about 120 feet long, with 
which the team is guided. 

In advertising his product Mr. Smith did 
most spectacular and effective advertising. 
Keenly alive to the impression which is made 
on the public by anything unusual, he seized 
on the means of transportation as his trade 
mark and made the "20-Mule Team Brand" 
famous the world over. Not only was it 
spread broadcast throughout the press of the 
country, but the famous 20-mule team, under 
the charge of "Borax Bill," the most famous 
of the 20-muIe teamsters, was sent under its 
own power to all the leading cities of the 
country. Borax Bill was a character worthy 
a place in history, and his feat of driving 
his team of twenty mules hitched to the great 
freighting wagons and guided solely by the 
"jerk line" up Broadway, New York, from 
the Battery to Forty-second Street, still is 
told as one of the marvelous feats of horse- 
manship. 

With the advertising came increased con- 
sumption of borax and its products and Mr. 
Smith increased the scope of his operations. 
He established another large refinery at Bay- 
onne. New Jersey, which serves the Eastern 
trade. Then he went abroad and organized 
the United Borax Company, Ltd., of London, 
England, which is capitalized at some millions 
of pounds sterling and pays immense divi- 



dends. These companies practically control 
the bora.x output of the world, and as presi- 
dent of them Mr. Smith is referred to as the 
"Borax King." 

A Power in Other Lines of Industry. 

But Mr. Smith has not confined himself to 
the borax business alone. Other lines have 
attracted him and have been benefited by his 
entrance into those fields. This is particu- 
larly true in the matter of the transportation 
situation. Just as his active mind grasped 
the problem of transporting the borax across 
the desert sands to the railroads and manufac- 
tured giant wagons drawn by the greatest 
teams of animals ever used for commercial 
purposes, so he looked over Oakland and re- 
alized the need of adequate transportation 
facilities. As a result the Oakland Traction 
Company was organized and later on the Key 
Route system. By means of these lines and 
their affiliations, Oakland and the adjacent ter- 
ritory is now the most efficiently served of any 
city in America. From poorly constructed 
and operated street car lines, Mr. Smith and 
his associates have built up a splendid urban 
and interurban system, serving the city of Oak- 
land and the entire territory from Berkeley 
to Haywards, a distance of over twenty-five 
miles, operating magnificent cars and trains at 
frequent intervals, and the development along 
these lines has but begun. 

Mr. Smith is a great believer in orgamza-' 
tion. From the first his companies have been 
models of organized efficiency. This is because 
he has the power of enlisting the absolute sup • 
port and loyalty of every man who works for 
him. Through his personality he binds his 
lieutenants and associates to himself with 
bonds that cannot be broken. He is a just 
man, a liberal man and a wise man, and as he 
has progressed he has taken those who have 
helped him along with him, making them 
share in his prosperity. His latest move in 
the direction of organization was the incorpo- 
ration of the great United Properties Com- 
pany of California. 

A Mighty Power in the Transportation 
World. 

Under this head all the transportation prop- 
erties in which Mr. Smith is interested, with 
a number of water and power and other public 
utility companies, were merged into a giant 



Frank M. Smith 



281 




Another View of F. M. Smith's Residence. Sth Avenue and East 24th Street. Oakland 



282 



Greater Oakland, 19U 



corporation known as tlie United Properties 
Compan}' of California, with a capitalization 
of $200,000,000. 

With this tremendous organization, of which 
he is president, Mr. Smith practically controls 
the transportation situation on tlie mainland, 
or Oakland, side of the bay, and that he in- 
tends to use it for the development of that 
side is evident in the broad scope of the plans 
and improvements now being considered. 

Chief of these is the filling in of the present 
Key Route pier, making a solid earth mole 
200 feet wide from the shoreline almost to the 
pier terminal. In connection with this a gi- 
gantic system of model docks and wharves 
will probably be built extending from the 
southern side of the mole and capable of ac- 
commodating the largest trans-Pacific liners. 
Franchises and permits for this work have 
been granted by both the United States gov- 
ernment and the city of Oakland and the 
plans are now under way. The filling in of 
the Key Route basin by which hundreds of 
acres of valuable water-front land will be 
gained for factory and industrial sites, is 
another feature of this colossal plan of devel- 
opment. Another angle is the addition of 
freight business to the present passenger traf- 
fic of the Key Route, which will enable it to 
secure practically all the terminal freight 
traffic of the mainland. This naturally will be 
of enormous value in the building up of those 
sections suitable for factories and shops of 
various kinds. With its facilities the Key 
Route will be able to handle freight direct 
from the ships lying at its docks to the cars 
on its own rails, whence they can be switched 
to any of the three great transcontinental lines 
operating with it. 



A Man of Forcible and Charming 
Personality. 

Like all men who have forced themselves 
through tlieir own efforts and indomitable will 
over all obstacles to success, F. M. Smith is a 
man of great force and power. His mind is 
quick to see opportunity and equally quick to 
act upon it. He is a keen judge of men, se- 
lecting his assistants with infinite care and 
then backing them up to the last notch, giving 
them full authority as fast as they can handle 
it. In this way he has surrounded himself with 
a coterie whose brilliance of performance is 
only equalled by their devotion to their chief. 

He is a sociable man, though not in the 
sense in which "society" is used. He loves 
his friends devotedly and nothing pleases him 
better than to have them about him. His home 
in Oakland and his summer home on Shelter 
Island, New York, are always filled with 
those to whom he can give pleasure. 

In charity Mr. Smith is as broad as he is 
unostentatious. His Home Club is a beautiful 
example of this. Adjoining the magnificent 
grounds of his own home he has built a num- 
ber of attractive cottages and bungalows. 
These, completely furnished and equipped, are 
provided for worthy girls selected Dy the lady 
directors of the Home, and all cost of their 
maintenance, education and welfare is borne 
by Mr. Smith for a certain period. As an 
illustration of practical, helpful Christian char- 
ity it is one of the most striking to be found 
in this country. 

The city of Oakland should be proud to 
claim Mr. Smith as its citizen. No man in 
the country is in a position to do more than 
he to bring Oakland to its rightful place as 
Queen of the Pacific. Nor is there anyone 
who has evinced a more sincere desire to do 
this very thing for the city in which he lives 
and loves. 



284 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Hotel Oakland 




HE XEW HOTEL OAKLAND 
V. hich is now nearly com- 
pleted, will not only be as 
handsome and large as any 
hostelry on the Pacific Coast, 
but will rank along with the best hotels of 
the United States. 

The site of the hotel embraces an entire 
city block, 200 by 300 feet in dimension. 
The foundation walls are massive struc- 
tures of reinforced concrete of unusral 
strength, and the frame is fornK d of struc- 
tural steel of the heaviest ami str!i!ia:est 
type. The outer walls and all the floors are 
of reinforced concrete, assuring the greatest 
stability and safety. Xi bui'din? under- 
taken to be erected in n-'odcrn ti'i^es em- 
braces within its foundations, walls and 
floors more complete and pi rfect e!en:ents 
of safety than the Hotel Oakland. 

The structure is designed in the style of 
the Italian renaissance, and rises seven 
stories above the ground floor. The main 
portion of the building is surmounted with 
two noble towers rising four stories above 
the roof. This main section is 300 feet long, 
lying on Fourteenth Street, from Harrison 
to Alice Street, and at each end the wings 
extend at right angles a full 200 feet to 
Thirteenth Street, producing a central court 
on Thirteenth Street. The structure is faced 
with Carnegie pressed brick of a delicate 
cream-gray tone, and the architectural ef- 
fect of the exterior is completed by a terra- 
cotta tile roof. 

The Arcade, 

The Court on Thirteenth Street in front 
of the main entrance, in size 90 by 155 
feet, is sure to be a most appreciated fea- 
ture of the Hotel Oakland from an artistic 
point of view. It is flanked on either side 
by an arcade of concrete columns, being 
almost a replica of the loggia of the Can- 
cellaria Palace at Rome. 



The Main Entrance. 

The court will be laid out in gardens of 
California loveliness and traversed with a 
carriage drive in the shape of a half moon 
from Thirteenth Street to the marquise at 
the main entrance. With the top of the 
arcade specified to carry a great number 
of large lights, and the outline of the towers 
emblazoned in a flood of electric scintilla- 
tions, the eflfect of the ensemble at night 
on the garden and arcade is one which can 
be inspiringly imagined with delight. 

The Lounging Room. 

The main entrance to the hotel will be 
situated on Thirteenth Street at the rear 
of the court. From this charming exterior 
one will enter the lounging room, in size 
40 by 80 feet, and finished in Caen stone, 
with an elliptical vaulted ceiling pierced by 
circular vaults over the windows and deco- 
rated in the highly ornamental style of the 
Italian renaissance and, in the manner of 
that period, colored in soft, v/arm tones. 
Growing plants in profusion will add to its 
restful effect. The balcony and mantel of 
this room will be of Hoptonwood marble, 
the floor of marble and tile. 

The Office. 

To the left of the lounging room will be 
the office, connected by wide corridor with 
the Harrison Street entrance, and between 
the office and the entrance will be located 
the concessions on each side; that is, the 
carriage agent, flower stand, telephones, 
telegraph office, check room, news and cigar 
stands, stenographer, etc. 

Office and corridors will also be in Caen 
stone, with tile and marble floors. 

The Ballroom. 

The ballroom, 56 by 108 feet, with prome- 
nade at each end, will be in Corinthian de- 



Hotel Oakland 



283 




286 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



sign, with ornamented plaster ceiling, deco- 
rated pillars and polished oak floor. An 
unusually beautiful crystal chandelier, eight 
feet in diameter, with four smaller support- 
ing lights in the corners, will cast their 
brilliance on exquisite hangings and deco- 
rations of ivory and apricot. This room, 
which is one of the largest, if not the larg- 
est, ballroom on the Coast, and promises 
to be the most beautiful, is also directly 
connected with the reception and dining 
rooms, and it is so arranged that the tea- 
room as well may be added to this suite. 
Guests attending a ball will pass through 
the Alice Street entrance into a large re- 
ception room, thence into a dressing-room 
lobby, from which lead the men's and wom- 
en's hat and cloak and toilet rooms. 

The Dining Room. 

The dining room, connected with the ball- 
room and directly in the rear of the loung- 
ing room, will be of Caen stone, with ceil- 
ing highly ornamented in colors. The four 
large, full bronze and brass lanterns which 
will illuminate it will be patterned after the 
lanterns in a noted French chateau. 

The Cafe. 

The cafe, which is on the northwest cor- 
ner of the building and which will be ar- 
ranged to accommodate about 275 people at 
one time, will be paneled in oak from the 
marble and tile floor to the ornamented 
English plaster ceiling. The room will be 
lighted by two chandeliers of the Dutch 
type, besides numerous wall brackets. A 
music gallery above the door will furnish 
the music for both the cafe and the loung- 
ing room. 

The Clubroom. 

An extra $.5,600 was added to the original 
cost of the clubroom in order to make it 
surpass anything of its kind on the Pacific 
Coast. It will be entirely paneled in oak, 
with Italian ceiling in colors. The leaded 
glass windows will have richly colored 
medallions inset, something unusual and 
very effective. There is no doubt but that 
this room will appeal to the men guests, 
and it is certain that nothing which will add 
to their comfort and content will be lacking. 



The Hotel Accommodations. 

The tea room, at the right of the lounging 
room, will be charming in its simplicity and 
very inviting. The walls will be hung with 
velvet and the room finished in delicate 
tapestries and set with exquisite furniture. 
With "tiffin" a feature of the hotel's social 
life, this room will be a popular meeting 
place for Oakland women. 

The kitchen is placed between the dining 
room and the cafe, insuring quick and satis- 
factory service. In this most important 
room all the modern equipment of an up-to- 
date hostelry will be installed, including a 
complete refrigeration plant and every labor- 
saving device perfected within the last few 
years. Special attention will be paid to the 
service of meals in the rooms, a serving 
room having been provided for this pur- 
pose. 

The barber shop, near the clubroom, will 
have white tile wainscoting and floor, with 
marble basins, and will be strictly up to 
date in every particular. 

Three banquet rooms and anterooms, 
children's dining room, hat and cloak 
rooms, ladies' cloak rooms, etc., will be on 
the mezzanine floor. On this floor, also, 
are twelve drummers' sample rooms, aver- 
aging from 14 by 24 to 16 by 50 feet in 
size, connected with baths and arranged es- 
pecially for traveling salesmen who require 
the best of accommodations. 

On the second, third, fourth and fifth 
floors are 292 bedrooms, varying in size 
from 14 by 24 to 20 by 24 feet, and 150 
bathrooms. When the sixth and seventh 
floors are completed the hotel will contain 
500 bedrooms and 300 bathrooms. The bed- 
rooms, although simple, will be very beau- 
tiful, finished and furnished in mahogany. 
There will be a telephone service in all the 
rooms, and all the principal rooms, as well 
as the parlors throughout the building, will 
be provided with a clock service regulated 
by the Western Union Telegraph Company. 
The bathrooms will be provided with tile 
floors and wainscoting, built-in porcelain 
tubs and lavatories of the very latest pat- 
tern. 

The basement will contain the power 
plant, including two boilers supplying steam 
for 10,000 square feet of radiating surface 
in the building, as well as hot water, and 



Hotel Oakland 



287 



there also will be located the bakery, store- 
rooms, help's kitchen and dining rooms, em- 
ployees' lockers, etc. It is so arranged that 
the general stores come down on a sepa- 
rate outside elevator and are checked and 
distributed by a single man, cutting down 
this cost of operation to a minimum. 

Part of the basement will be so finished 
that, should it be deemed advisable in the 
future, Turkish baths may be installed. 

The hotel will be provided with inclosed 



fireproof staircases at the end of every hall, 
and the American District Telegraph Com- 
pany's fire alarm and watchman's signal 
box service will be installed. 

There is an additional merit most appro- 
priate to a California caravansary in that 
practically every room in the hotel will 
receive sunshine at some part of the day 
and all rooms will receive light direct from 
the open street. 




J^wkwmkvs^^^ 




288 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Hotel St. Mark 




HE largest and most promi- 
nent of the commercial hotels 
in Oakland in operation at 
the present time is the Hotel 
St. ]\Iark, located at the cor- 
ner of Franklin and Twelfth Streets. This 
fine structure was built in 1907, is eighv 
stories in height and has 250 rooms. The 
cost of construction was about $.300,000. 

The hotel gets its name from Martin E. 
Marks, who built it and who owns it. Mr. 
Marks has spared no expense in the equip- 
ment and furnishings of the hotel. The 
hotel generates ils own electricity for light 
and power and has its own wells and pump- 
ing plant. Tlie 250 rooms are elegantly- 
furnished in mahogany', fumed oak and wal- 
nut, the furnishings alone costing over 
$100,000. The structure is built of steel and 
concrete and is absolutely fireproof. 

The St. Mark has entertained many 
guests of national reputation, among the 
notables being Opie Reid, the well-known 
novelist; Victor Aletcalf, while Secretary 



of the Navy, during fhe visit of the fleet; 
Wu Ting Fang, Chinese Minister, and 
President Taft, in 1909. 

The management of the hotel has always 
been of the best. The hotel was opened by 
Elmer F. Woodbury, formerly connected 
with the Hotel Cadillac of New York, who 
was succeeded by Richard M. Briare, for- 
merly of the Palace Hotel of San Francisco 
and late proprietor of the Metropole. The 
hotel is now managed bj^ Martin E. Marks, 
whose other business interests have been so 
arranged that he is now able to give it his 
entire attention. 

One of the features of the hotel is its 
excellent dining room. Its table d'hote 
dinners and luncheors have become popular 
with Oaklanders from all over the city. 

The St. Mark has twenty-six large sample 
rooms for the exclusive use of commercial 
travelers, and there have recently been in- 
stalled the best appointed Hammam B;iths. 
in the citv. 




Hotel St. Mark 



389 




290 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




E. C. DYER 
Proprietor "Key Route Tnn" 



Key Route Inn 




NE of the most representative 
hotels in the West is the Key 
Route Inn, at Twenty-second 
Street and Broadway, Oak- 
land. It has several unique 
features all its own, one of which is its 
location at the terminal of the Key Route, 
whose modern electric passenger cars glide 
quietly in and out of a spacious covered 
station directly in front of the hotel en- 
trance, which really appears to be part of 
the hotel itself. 

The Key Route Inn has 160 rooms and is 
conducted on both the European and Amer- 
ican plans. The well-appointed dining 
room overlooks the private park belonging 
to the hotel. The general environment in 
the matter of location and grounds, the man- 
agement, cuisine and service leaves little to 
be desired. 



Mr. E. C. Dyer, who is the proprietor as 
well as tlie active manager of the hotel, is 
one of the best known and most efficient 
hotel men in the country, and a gentleman 
who always commands considerable patron- 
age wherever he is located because of his 
uniform courtesy, his polish and refinement, 
and further, because he is a past master of 
the hotel business from kitchen to roof. 

Mr. Dyer at one time had practically 
closed a business deal to lease the Fair- 
mont Hotel of San Francisco. 

Mr. Dyer was formerly connected with 
the management of the Del Prado and Win- 
dermere hotels in Chicago, and three years 
ago was manager of the Buckingham in 
St. Louis. No doubt Mr. Dyer will be 
heard from in connection with some of the 
new larger hotels in this vicinity in the 
future. 



Key Route Inn 



291 




292 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Casa Rosa Apartments 




NE of the best appointed and 
most beautiful apartment 
houses on the Pacific Coast 
is the Casa Rosa, tlie prop- 
erty of Mr. J. J. Kennedy of 
this city. 

The guests living there find a most agree- 
able environment, with every device for 
comfort and ease known to the designers 
of buildings of this type and character. 
Casa Rosa is completely furnished with 
modern equipment; heat, cl ctric lights, 
hot and cold water and vacuum house 
sweepers are included in every apartment. 
Each apartment also enjoys its own private 
hall and private telephone. 

Architect J. Cather Newson outdid him- 
self in the designing of this structure, as 
the architectural style is not only beautiful 
but odd and unique and possesses an air 
all its own. The building is 62 by 100 feet, 
located on Market Street, opposite Fif- 
teenth Street. Its location gives it the ad- 
vantage of being convenient to the down- 
town shopping district while still in one of 



the most desirable residence districts of 
Oakland. 

There are fifty-four rooms; eighteen 
apartments of three rooms each. All of 
the apartments are roomy, clean and sani- 
tary and leave little to be desired as to con- 
venience, comfort and luxury. Complete 
fire protection is given by four large exits; 
an auxiliary protection against fire is the 
big forty-four gallon chemical fire engine, 
mounted on wheels and capable of taking 
care of any emergency. 

One of the unique features of the Casa 
Rosa which has recently been added is a 
beautiful roof garden, most artistically ar- 
ranged with hanging baskets and flowers 
for the further enjoyment of the guests. 

Casa Rosa has only been opened two 
years and everything is practically new. It 
has been conducted as a strictly first-class 
house and solicits nothing but the most 
desirable tenants. With all its natural ad- 
vantages, coupled with the congeniality and 
able management of Mrs. H. O. Willson, 
there is rarely an unoccupied apartment in 
the house. 




Casa Rosa Apartments 



293 




294 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Peralta Apartments 




HE handsome structure located 
at the northeast corner of 
Thirteenth and Jackson 
Streets, the home of the Per- 
alta Apartments, is conceded 
by everyone to be one of the largest, one 
of the most elegant and perfectly appointed 
apartment hotels on the Pacific Coast. 

It is conveniently located, four blocks 
from Broadway and the shopping district 
and three blocks from the Key Route and 
Southern Pacific locals. 

The Peralta is modern and up to date in 
every respect. All the apartments are large, 
sunny and beautifully furnished. There arc 
no "inside" rooms, and every room has an 
abundance of closet space and wide, light 
halls. The house is equipped with dumb- 
waiter service, steam heat, hot and cold 



water, both telephones and two elevators. 
There is a spacious children's playroom. 

One of the important features of the 
house is the big airy court, built on the 
old Mission style, with promenade and 2 
beautiful flower garden, which must be seen 
to be appreciated. The Peralta also enjoys 
the distinction of being the only apartment 
house in Oakland which has its own grill 
and dining room. The well-appointed din- 
ing room is conducted on the American 
plan and has a seating capacity of sixty 
or seventy people. 

The Peralta is situated in one of the most 
beautiful residence districts in the city, 
notwithstanding its proximity to the busi- 
ness center. Lake Merritt is only a step 
from its doors, and the new Bankers Hotel, 
only two blocks west, is on the same street. 




Peralta Apartments 



295 




296 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




GUSTAV MANN 
Manager of The Forum Cafe 



The Forum Cafe 




HE FORUM CAFE, conceded 
to be one of the handsomest 
in America, is an institution 
of the city in which center 
the social, business and politi- 
cal activities. It is magnificently appointed 
for such purposes and figures as the setting 
for dinners, luncheons and other functions 
which are a feature of Oakland life. It is 
in the evening that it presents a fascination 
with its gay throngs of diners, which con- 
tinues until the last of those who linger at 
the after-theater suppers take up their de- 
parture. 

Its central location, on Broadway, near 
Fourteenth Street, makes it convenient of 
access from all parts of the city. While 
retaining all the atmosphere of the Bohe- 



mian it is conducted on the highest plane 
and in point of service it has no superiors 
on the Pacific Coast. 

Mr. Gustav Mann, manager of the Forum, 
is one of the notal)le hosts of the continent 
and his association with the very foremost 
institutions of the kind gives to his estab- 
lishment a prestige and charm that has few 
equals and is not surpassed. 

Among the noteworthy features con- 
nected with the Forum are the frequent 
mercantile dinners and luncheons that are 
given there, and it is undoubtedly due to 
the influence exercised in the exchange of 
ideas over the dinner table that has wrought 
such a spirit of harmony among those who 
have the influence to promote public in- 
terest. 



Forum Cafe 



29? 




298 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



The Cave 

The Artistic Bohemia of Oakland 



EW YORK CITY has its 
Hoffman Bar, San Francisco's 
Palace of Art was widely 
known throughout the West, 
and Oakland is in no wise 
lacking- in this respect, for the Cave, occu- 
pying the premises at 473 Eleventh Street, 





D. KNABBE 
Proprietor of "The Cave" 

has achieved considerable fame among 
travelers for its excellent and well chosen 
works of art, and visitors can spend an 
enjoyable and instructive hour in the in- 
spection of the paintings that grace the 
walls of this popular cafe, without cost or 
price. 

The canvas that demands immediate at- 
tention upon entering the doors is Cooper's 
"Precipice of Life," an immense picture, 
10 by 14 feet. The eminent artist considers 
this one of his greatest efforts, if not the 
best of his life, notwithstanding the "Morn- 



ing of the Crucifixion,' wliich i eceived hon- 
orable mention at the World' j h'air in Chi- 
cago and which has since been exhibited 
throughout the United States, Canada and 
Mexico. 

Mr. Cooper's reputation as an artist of the 
very liighest order needs no explanation, 
and in this masterpiece he has excelled 
himself. From a viewpoint, this painting 
is startling. Grouped in the immediate fore- 
ground and upon the verge of the precipice 
are many noted historical characters, not- 
ably Nero, the cruel emperor of Rome; 
Mark Antony and Cleopatra, and Salome, 
the beautiful daughter Herodias, who 
danced before Herod, the king of the Jews, 
for a favor, and her graceful dancing 
pleased him so well that he promised to 
grant any favor she might ask; forthwith 
her mother requested that she ask for the 
head of John the Baptist, by whom she had 
been scorned, which was later served her 
upon a silver salver. This figure is one of 
the most graceful of the group. 

Standing in graceful poses and close to 
Salome are Mark Antony and the dark- 
haired queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, in a flood 
of lurid orange light, coming from below, 
where you see a glimpse of the infernal re- 
gions. The effect of the light on the two 
figures is apparently real, and one can 
scarcely believe it simply painted. 

Sitting near a high bronze brazier is Nero, 
holding aloft a golden goblet, drinking to 
the health of a Grecian general. His cos- 
tume is of lilac and his feet are resting upon 
a leopard skin. 

In the middle distance are beautiful 
Grecian maidens grouped about a large vase, 
from which they are serving wine. Many 
other splendid figures are skilfully arranged 
to carry out the composition of light and 
shade, from the midst of which rises Satan, 
mounted on a black horse and followed by 
a shrouded figure of Death bearing aloft the 
scythe, "perennial reaper of Time." 

Far to the right and upon the summit of 
a hill can be seen the figure of Christ bear- 
ing the cross, and an angel kissing the hem 
of His garment; and below, toiling up the 



Cave Cafe 



299 




300 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



ascent, are numerous figures following in 
His footsteps over the rough and gloomy 
road, who, tired and sickened at the scenes 
of luxury and dissipation below, are strug- 
gling and watching the figure with the 
cross. 

This painting must be seen to be appre- 
ciated. 

Another painting well worth seeing is en- 
titled "Equality," by A. D. M. Cooper, a 
remarkable conception and splendidly exe- 
cuted. This painting is a sermon in itself; 
it grips the attention of the beholder im- 
mediatel}' and he soon finds himself in deep 
reflection as to the whole philosophy of 
life. 



toral scene executed in masterly style. The 
natural effect produced in this picture as to 
lights and shades and distances is really 
remarkable. 

The gentleman who is responsible for 
bringing this exceptional collection of 
paintings to Oakland for the public to see 
and enjoy, and at the expense of thousands 
of dollars, is Mr. D. Knabbe, who has con- 
ducted his establishment at its present lo- 
cality for the past twenty-one years. Mr. 
Knabbe is a native of Germany, having been 
born on January 7th, 1866. He came to 
America in his early youth and settled in 
the West. It was over twenty-five years 
ago that he decided to make Oakland his 




" Equality." Taken from Painting Himg in " Cave ' 



"Hannoversche Heide," by the noted 
German artist, Prof. F. Hoffman, Falers- 
leben, has for its subject an old German 
homestead. The subject of this picture is 
so rare in this new western empire, and is 
so typically a German scene, that every son 
of the Fatherland should see it; the scene 
will be recognized immediately. This pic- 
ture won the gold medal at the Interna- 
tional Exhibition of Art at Vienna and was 
purchased in Germany by the present 
owner. 

"Bremer Heide," by J. Harders, is a beau- 
tiful landscape, with wonderful perspective 
of distances, and represents a peaceful pas- 



permanent home, and he has no reason to 
regret his choice of location, because dur- 
ing his long residence here he has made 
many firm friends and is now known to be 
one of the active boosters for his adopted 
city. 

The Cave bar is excellently equipped with 
a most complete variety of wines, cordials 
and liquors. The attendants are uniformly 
courteous and understand their business 
thoroughly. A feature of the Cave is its 
beautiful mosaic floor, designed by Mr. 
Knabbe himself and of a most unique and 
beautiful pattern. 



Cave Cafe 



301 




Bremer Heide " from Painting hung in Cave Cafe 





Taken from painting "Hannoveresche Heide," hung in Cave Cafe. 



302 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Colonial Cafeterias 

409-1 I Thirteenth Street and 581 Twelfth Street 




AKLANDERS have found in 
the Colonial Cafeterias a re- 
freshing departure from the 
usual so-called popular res- 
taurants. In the first place, 
the cafeterias are managed and owned by 
ladies, the cooks and attendants are 
women, and that is the reason the hungry 
public so thoroughly appreciate the tasty 
and dainty dishes served there, which can 
come only from the feminine hand. 

Mrs. S. G. Hammond, Mrs. H. H. 
Crane and Miss J. M. Hammond are the 
owners and managers of the cafeterias 
and deserve great credit for the executive 
ability they have shown in the manage- 
ment of a really big business enterprise. 
They have insisted on absolute cleanliness, 
both in the kitchen and dining rooms, and 
diners depart feeling that they have 
lunched just as well as at "home." 

In the cafeterias the food is displayed 
on cleanly counters and steam tables, and 
all the guests are required to do is to 
select the dishes that appeal most strongly 
to their individual tastes and be helped to 
them. The young women at the serving 
tables are always cheerful, courteous and 
obliging, and as a result the busy man can 
dine and get back to his work in an in- 
credibly short time. 

Notwithstanding the dismal predictions 
of many people on the street that the cafe- 



terias "would not last six months," they 
have been pre eminently successful; in 
fact, the Thirteenth Street place is about 
to be enlarged and handsomely remodeled 
in white and blue, and will soon be the 
brightest, cleanest and most cheerful pop- 
ular dining room in Oakland, as well as 
the largest. 

The present seating capacity of the cafe- 
teria on Thirteenth Street is about one 
hundred and seventy-five, with a floor 
space of 90x40 feet. The one on Twelfth 
Street seats in the neighborhood of one 
hundred people. They were established 
in February and November, 1909, and the 
business has grown steadily from the start; 
the cafeterias furnish employment to about 
thirty people at the present time, and the 
number will soon be materially increased. 

The lady proprietors have earned and 
received a great many compliments on the 
manner in which the business is conducted, 
and when the interviewer, in gathering 
material for this volume, asked as to what 
in particular they attributed the success of 
the cafeterias, they stated that there is no 
great secret. "We are simply housekeep- 
ing on a large scale; we have demonstrated 
that the public appreciate clean home cook- 
ing, popular prices, and quick and courte- 
ous service, and when you have something 
people want, success follows naturally." 



Colonial Cafeterias 



303 




306 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



University of California — The Pride of the We^ 



By President Benjamin Ide Wheeler 




HE last biennial period of the 
Universitj' of California has 
brought many changes in the 
line of progress. First, as re- 
gards the number of students: 
in J 908 there were in the colleges at Berk- 
eley 2,916 — the number of graduate students 
was 324; whereas in 1910 there were 3,352 
students at Berkeley, including 425 graduate 
students. On November 1 of last year the 
net total of all students in the university 
was 4,226, or, if we add the summer ses- 
sion, deducting duplicates, and also the 
short course in the farm school and uni- 
versity extension, we have a grand total of 
5829. This is the number of persons who 
are being reached for purposes of instruc- 
tion by the university. 

During this period has been erected the 
Doe Library building. The final plan has 
not been completed and will not be prob- 
ably for a dozen years or more. The 
building will provide space for 350,000 vol- 
umes. That portion of the building which 
is now complete is built from the bequest 
of Charles Franklin Doe, at an expense 
of about $750,000, and $200,000 has been 
added from university funds to equip and 
furnish it. During this period has been 
erected also the Boalt Memorial Hall of 
Law, the gift of Mrs. Elizabeth Boalt and 
lawyers of the State of California. A new 
and much needed agricultural building, 
upon which $300,000 will be expended, has 
been begun. A large temporary building 
has been built for pathology and bacteri- 
ology. A zoological museum has been 
erected to store the rich collections given 
to the university by Miss Annie M. Alex- 
ander. The student infirmary has been en- 
larged by the addition of a wing used both 
as dispensary and clinic. This infirmary 
has come to be a great blessing to the uni- 
versity; usually more than a hundred 
students a day receive treatment there and 



on an average ten are in bed. Five nurses 
and three physicians are employed. Sather 
gate at the Telegraph Avenue entrance has 
been erected at a cost of $40,000. An addi- 
tion to the architecture building has been 
provided, more than doubling its floor 
space. The department of architecture is 
rapidly assuming form as an important part 
of the university. Six tennis courts for the 
students have been built with monies de- 
rived from the students' gymnasium fees, 
and there are now nine courts in all open 
to the students. Two hundred and fifty 
acres of land, constituting the main lower 
portion of Strawberry Canyon, have been 
acquired and added to the university do 
main. This constitutes not only a protec- 
tion to the university from the rear, but 
will provide a water supply, particularly as 
protection against fire. 

Improvements for the Students. 

In the canyon has been established a rifle 
range for the university cadets. There has 
been constructed also a great swimming 
pool 187 feet long for the use of the students 
in the university. During this period also 
has been established the farm school at 
Davis. Every term more students come to 
it. Its purpose is to prepare for the work 
of the farm boys who are to be farmers 
The farm has been equipped with some foui- 
teen buildings, and is already well installed 
in its beneficent work for the farming com- 
munity. Students in the regular agricul 
tural courses go to this farm for periods of 
several weeks to take courses which can 
only be given to advantage on the farm, 
such as courses in animal industry, dairy 
practice, farm practice, use of tools, tests 
of live stock, etc. The farm serves further- 
more the purpose of agricultural investiga- 
tion. Here have been conducted the famous 
investigations of Dr. Shaw, which are pro- 
ducing a new seed wheat for the use of 



University of California 



307 




308 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



the State which will add millions to the an- 
nual income of California. The agricultural 
demonstration train has been introduced. 
It has gone up and down the State in- 
structing the people and giving demonstra- 
tions of the use of farm machinery, etc., by 
the use of cars equipped as laboratories 
and museums; 73,000 people last year visited 
this train. A laboratory has been pro- 
vided for the marine biological station at 
La Jolla, near San Diego, the gift of Miss 
Ellen B. Scripps. A finely equipped seismo- 
logical station, than which there is no 
better station in the country, has been es- 
tablished on the grounds of the university. 
The university's scientific publications have 
been greatly extended, so that we are placed 
on a basis of exchange with some 700 dif- 
ferent universities and learned societies 
throughout the world. The Kearney estate 
of 5,400 acres has been taken over into the 
possession of the university. This is the 
gift of Mr. M. Theodore Kearney, and will 
ultimately be used for the support of agri- 
cultural investigation and instruction, both 
in the form of short courses and prob- 
ably of a school at Fresno. The admin- 
istrative machinery of the university has 
been widely reorganized. The students 
have developed their system of self-gov- 
ernment more fully every year and during 
recent years it has come into very com- 
plete and beneficent activity, taking charge, 
on the basis of student honor, of the class 
examinations. 

Plans for Enlarging University. 
The greatest need of the university at 
present remains the provision of buildings 



large enough to house the great body of 
students now assembled. The old build- 
ings were provided for a college of five or 
six hundred and have to do duty today for 
an institution of 3,500. The first great need 
is a building to replace North Hall at the 
northeast corner of the library building. 
The present building has done good service, 
but is worn out and weakened. Standing 
as it does in close proximity to the new 
library, it is a fire peril. Geology, paleon- 
tology and mineralogy demand new quarters. 
So does botany; so does zoology. The 
chemical laboratory is forced to do service 
for five times as many students as it was 
originally constructed for. On every hand 
there is need, but the splendid spirit of 
faculty and students in working on among 
existing conditions has made it possible to 
do things that ordinarily could not have 
been done. But we are asking too much 
patience on their part. The students come 
from high schools where there is plenty of 
room and admirable equipment and find, 
especially in the laboratories of physics, 
chemistry and botany, everything over- 
crowded. The pioneers of California who 
founded the university wished for an insti- 
tution where their children could ■ obtain 
as good an education as that offered by the 
institutions of the East. They desired that 
their children should not suffer from isola- 
tion from the homes of their forefathers. 
It behooves us that nothing but the best 
should be provided for California. It is a 
long task to build a university, but we are 
proceeding steadily toward the goal which 
is the fulfillment of the founders' ideals. 



University of California 



309 



Greek Theater, Known All Over The World 

Past Year Has Seen Wonderful Advancement 

In Completing the Building Scheme of the State University — Agricultural Hall 

is Now Under Construction — Doe and Boalt Hall Built 




HE Hearst architectural plan is 
being gradually realized in 
artistic and enduring stone 
piles on the University of 
California campus. The past 
year has seen active progress toward the 
better material housing of the institution 
through the generosity of private bene- 
factors. 

The new University library, built from 
Charle? Franklin Doe's bequest, and Boalt 
Hall of Law, the gift of Mrs. Elizabeth Jos- 
selyn Boalt and the lawyers of California, 
will be completed early in 1911. The Sather 
gate, reared by the munificence of Mrs. 
Jane K. Sather, has been completed, save 
for the decorative sculptures for which her 
gift has made special provision. 

Work has begun on Agricultural Hall, 
planned to be built from the permanent 
building fund and planned to relieve some- 
what the congestion brought about by the 
rapid expansion of instruction and research 
in agriculture. An extension has also been 
built to provide space for the pure food 
laboratory of the State Board of Health, a 
work of vast importance to the people of 
the State. A roadway of permanent con- 
struction has been built from the Sather 
gate to the new library. 

California Hall Part of Plan. 

California Hall was first ready for occu- 
pancj' in the autumn of 1903. It was built 
at a cost of $250,000, appropriated for the 
purpose by the State legislature, and is one 
of the buildings provided for in the Phoebe 
A. Hearst architectural plan. Its site is at 
the right of Boalt Hall facing west. The 
Hall of Philosophy will similarly flank 
Boalt Hall on the left. The first floor of 



the building is given over in chief measure 
to the departments of history and econom- 
ics. The administrative offices are all situ- 
ate on the second floor, and here also are 
the faculty room and the offices of the de- 
partment of education. For the present the 
Academy of Pacific Coast History has its 
home in the attic of California Hall, but 
in due course the Academy, with the Ban- 
croft Library, will be housed in the new 
Doe Library Building. 

Hearst Memorial Mining Building, 

The cornerstone of the Hearst Memorial 
Building was laid on November 19, 1902. 
The building was formally opened and dedi- 
cated on the afternoon of August 23, 1907. 
It has been described by President Wheeler 
as "not only the largest but the most com- 
pletely equipped building devoted exclu- 
sively to the study of mining engineering 
in the world." In the drawing of the plans 
Professor John Galen Howard worked in 
constant conference with Dr. S. B. Christy, 
the dean of the mining college. Between 
them these two men visited nearly every 
mining and technical school of rank in the 
old world and the new. It was intended 
that the building should be useful and beau- 
tiful; but the beauty, as Architect Howard 
said, was sought "not by easy masquerade 
and putting on of architectural stuff, but by 
organic composition; we have in all frank- 
ness chosen character rather than mere 
prettiness as the end to be reached, sure 
that the highest beauty is to be derived 
from organically right foundations, not 
free from any kind of surface scorings or 
plasterings." The administrative and more 
public parts of the building are in the front 
and south portion. The most important of 



310 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



these artistically is the great memorial ves- 
tibule museum occupying the center of the 
south facade, lighted by three great arches 
and running through three stories to the 
roof, where also light enters through three 
low domes. To right and left from the 
vestibule lead grand staircases. East and 
west of the main vestibule on both first and 
second stories are administrative offices and 
lecture rooms. Three wings extend north 
from this southern suite of rooms. The 
central space, which is the "core and heart 
of the building," is a great court to be de- 
voted to the purposes of the mining labora- 
tor3^ The east and west wings on the ex- 
terior, corresponding to the central court 
on the interior, are arranged for metallur- 
gical laboratories and for special and re- 
search laboratories. Above these are the 
drafting rooms. The northern end of the 
building is occupied in the center by the 
dry crushing tower, on the east by the cop- 
per and lead smelting laboratory, and on 
the west by the gold and silver mill. The 
building is the gift of Mrs. Phoebe A. 
Hearst, and is erected in memory of her 
husband. Its cost was $640,000. It is, of 
course, one of the buildings provided for in 
the Hearst plans for the greater university. 
Greek Theater Musical Center. 

The Greek Theater was formally dedi- 
cated on September 24, 1903, when ad- 
dresses were delivered by Ben Weed, who 
first discovered the site; Professor John 
Galen Howard, the architect; President 
Wheeler and William Randolph Hearst, 
the donor. There followed a presentation 
by the students of the university of the 
"Birds of Aristophanes." The Theater has 
since been very largely the center of the 
musical and dramatic activities of the uni- 
versity as well as the places of assembly, 
when weather permits, for great occasions 
such as Charter Day and Commencement. 
Its seating capacity is something over 8,000, 
and its cost was $47,000. It is again one 
of the structures provided for in the plans 
for the greater university. 

The cornerstone of the Doe Memorial 
Library was laid on Thanksgiving Day of 
1908 in the presence of the assembled fac- 
ulty, students and friends of the university. 
Addresses were delivered by the librarian, 
Mr, J. C. Rowell, Mr. Loring B. Doe, and 



President Wheeler. The building repre- 
sents a gift of over $664,000, being the be- 
quest of Mr. Charles Franklin Doe. One 
of its most distinctive features is the great 
reading room with its gentle northern light. 
There will be almost unlimited provision 
in the building for books, not only of the 
general library, but of the Bancroft collec- 
tion, which will have special quarters there. 
.\n extensive series of seminary rooms are 
provided. A feature of the building is the 
great north facade, of which one has an ex- 
cellent view from the road entering the 
university grounds from North Berkeley. 
The building stands just to the right of 
California Hall, facing north, and is a mem- 
ber of the permanent group. 

Boalt Hall of Law. 

Boalt Hall of Law will be occupied, with 
the opening of the next semester, by the 
law department of the university. On the 
first and sub-floor are the law club rooms 
and the lecture rooms. The second floor is 
occupied by Lawyers' Memorial Hall, com- 
prising the reading hall, the conference 
rooms, the stacks, the studies of professors 
and the lawyers' room. In the latter any 
lawyer of the State desiring to use the great 
library, which it is hoped will be gathered 
here, may be accommodated. The Hall is 
by universal consent one of the most pleas- 
ing on the campus, both outside and in. 
It is erected at a cost of $150,000, $100,000 
of which was provided by Mrs. Elizabeth 
Boalt and the rest by gift of the legal pro- 
fession of the State. It belongs to the 
group of permanent buildings of the greater 
university. 

Agriculture Hall Started. 

The Agriculture Building, to cost approx- 
imately $300,000, is now in process of con- 
struction. In its exterior the building is 
suggestive of the type of architecture of 
the north Italian country. Like other build- 
ings of the Phoebe A. Hearst plan, the hall 
is to be of white granite with red roofs of 
mission tile. It will represent the highest 
development of modern fire-resistive con- 
struction. The frame will be of steel fire- 
proofed in concrete. The building will 
measure 162 by 64 feet in size. On the 
main floor will be a lecture room with ris- 



University of California 



311 



ing tiers of seats, a museum corridor to 
house collections of the department likely 
to be of interest to visitors; an agricultural 
library; a laboratory of horticulture and 
viticulture, and the offices of Professor E. 
J. Wickson. Laboratories, lecture rooms, 
and apparatus rooms and four studies for 
professors will occupy the second floor. 
The basement floor will contain a labora- 
tory for experimental work in questions 
connected with the treatment of plant dis- 
eases by spraying, and a mailing room, a 
lecture room, two faculty studies, etc. As 
soon as completed the building will be fully 
occupied, and it will be necessary to pro- 
ceed almost immediately to construct one 
of the two wings which are included in the 
final plan of the building. 

North Hall Ancient Structure. 

North Hall is one of the oldest structures 
on the campus. It is a building of wood. 
It has long been a favorite with the stu- 
dents, and North Hall steps have become 
by tradition the place of assembly of upper 
classmen. The building contains many 
class rooms, where instruction in the lan- 
guages, in law, in English and in the clas- 
sics has hitherto been given. It will house 
at one time somewhere about 2,000 students, 



but it is weakened by age and thoroughly 
outworn, and in its present site is a con- 
stant menace in case of fire to the Doe 
Library building. It should be removed and 
replaced by a newer general recitation 
building to be constructed in accordance 
with the Hearst plans and to co«t about 
$300,000. 

South Hall Still Useful. 

South Hall is of brick. It has no place 
in the Hearst plan, but it must serve for a 
half century or more. It is now occupied 
by the departments of physics, geology and 
mineralogy. The administration offices for- 
merly had their place on the first floor. All 
the departments now located there are 
sorely pressed for room, and must before 
the lapse of many years be provided with 
accommodation elsewhere. 

East Hall, a wooden building, is now oc- 
cupied by the departments of zoology and 
drawing. The rapid expansion in the re- 
search and instruction of the former depart- 
ment demands, however, that the depart- 
ment of drawing be soon given space else- 
where. It is possible that a wing will be 
added to the present architectural building 
at the north entrance to the university. 



312 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Public Schools of Oakland 



313 




314 



Greater Oakianu, ]91i 



Oakland Conservatory of Music 



HE Oakland Conservatory of 
Music, now recognized as the 
leading school of genuine 
musical instruction on the Pa- 
cific Coast, was founded Janu- 
ary 1, 18&9, by its present director, Profes- 
sor Adolf Gregory. The school was started 
in two small rooms in the Blake Block on 




i I 



A Corner in the L,ibrary 

Washington Street. In a few months, how- 
ever, the classes had outgrown these accom- 
modations and more commodious quarters 
had to be secured in the same building. The 
school increased steadily for five years, each 
year necessitating the addition of more 
rooms until in 1905 it became necessary to 
move into still larger quarters, as it was 
impossible to secure any more studios in 
the building then occupied by the Conser- 
vatory, Mr. Gregory selected a large resi- 
dence at the southeast corner of Fourteenth 
and Madison Streets, which he bought out- 
right. In two years more, however, the 
school had again outgrown its quarters and 
the property was sold at considerable profit 
and a larger building at the corner of 
Twelfth and Jackson Streets was secured. 
After two years more of unusual progress 
this commodious building proved also too 
cramped for the rapidly expanding institu- 



tion and the ever increasing patronage and 
still larger headquarters had to be looked 
for. Mr. Gregory's search finally proved 
successful and the new building now occu- 
pied by the Conservatory stands within 
magnificent grounds at the corner of Thir- 
teenth and Madison Streets, just opposite 
the lot on which the first distinct building 
of the Conservatory was situated. 

No expense has been spared in making 
this building most desirable in every detail. 
It contains twenty-four large and hand- 
somely appointed studios. The three main 
studios on the ground floor are so situated 
that they can be changed into one large 
recital hall with a seating accommodation 
of between three and four hundred, making 
it convenient for pupils' musicales and the 
regular academnias, all of which may thus 
be held in the Conservatory, without the 
necessity of renting outside halls for that 
purpose. 

There are also large class rooms for har- 
mony and orchestral practice. Since its 
foundation over 4.000 students have regis- 




The Coii.servatory Office 

iercd at the Conservatory and each year 
some new and especial advantage appertain- 
ing to a regular conservatory course of 
stud'CS iias been added. This year the al 



Oakland Conservatory of ^[usic 



315 




316 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




of success. He is a native of England, his 
birth having occurred at Chester, where, as 
a chorister in thr catliedral, the foundation 
of his musical career was laid. He after- 
ward studied in London under the guidance 
of leading musicians of the day, continuing 
his studies later for eight years in Italy, 
at Milan and other leading musical centers. 
In the direction of the Conservatory he 
is ably assisted by his wife, Mrs. Florence 
E. Gregory, and a faculty of twenty-five ac- 
complished instructors. All branches of 
music, vocal, instrumental and theoretical, 
are efificiently taught in the Conservatory. 



One of the many Studios 



ready extensive library has been augmented 
so that it now contains over ten thousand 
dollars' worth of full orchestral scores and 
all other important works dealing with the 
esthetic, scientific, technical and emotional 
phase of music. A new pipe organ has also 
been installed, making it more convenient 
for practice for students of that instrument. 
Adolf Gregory's identification with this 
successful institution has placed him among 
the citizens of Oakland as an upbuilder of 
our beautiful city. He has brought to bear 
in his work an inheritance of ability and 
training which could not but be productive 




Harmony Clas.s Room 




Oakland Conservatory of Music 



317 




318 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Heald's Business College 

OAKLAND. CALIFORNIA 




MONG the many institutions 
which reflect credit on the 
city of Oakland none stand 
higher in the estimation of 
our people than the above- 
named business college, which is a part of 
the school bearing that name which has for 
the past forty-eight years been educating 
the youth of this country for commercial 
pursuits. This college has turned out thou- 
sands of boys and girls who have reflected 
credit to Oakland, to California and to the 
school. 

Heald's Business College has played a 
conspicuous part in the development of 
California and the Pacific Coast because its 
influence has touched the lives of so many 
prominent men and women. The school 
has steadily grown until it is now a power- 
ful influence in molding the characters of 



the young people of the Pacific Coast. Its 
growth has been constant and substantial, 
every year adding to its influence, its popu- 
larity and its usefulness. 

There is something about age that in- 
spires confidence. There is something in 
reserve power that induces trust. There is 
a great deal in character that commands 
regard. When, therefore, a concern has 
been with the public for so many years, 
has always been officered by men of high 
standing and known character, and when 
that institution, being a business training 
school for young men and women, has 
maintained an ever increasing efficiency 
and prestige and has steadily increased its 
facilities, there is not much need of seeking 
further for the reason of its prosperity. 

The foregoing conditions accurately de- 
scribe Heald's Business College. It is 



Heald's Business College 



319 



skilled in the careful and i)rogTessivc train- 
ing which has long been its ruling spirit. 
The college has been under the same man- 
agement for nearly fifty years and has 
served the public promptly and faithfully 
by strict attention to business and conser- 




E. P. HEAIvD 

President and Founder of H bald's 
Business College 



vative and progressive methods, keeping in 
mind the importance of training young men 
and women in the practical affairs of life. 
The school's foremost purpose is to train 
young men and women to meet the de- 
mands of the commercial world. 

It has always been closely in touch with 
the needs and prospects of the business 
men and has always shaped a course of 
stud}' accordingly, and has always endeav- 
ored to render the community untold serv- 
ice in promoting its growth and advance- 
ment. 

Commercial education has never before 
attracted so much attention as it does to- 
day, nor has the work which commercial 
schools are accomplishing ever been so 
thoroughly appreciated as now. Schools 
like Heald's Business College are, and have 
been for many years, absolutely necessary. 



This great need of practical education and 
training is being recognized throughout the 
entire country. 

Thinking people realize that this is the 
day of the specialist. In order to succeed 
one must do one thing well. The trend 
of modern civilization necessitates that the 
individual of both sexes be prepared to 
make his or her own living. A general col- 
lege education is desirable, but for the aver- 
age boy or girl who has to make his or her 
living, a course in Heald's Business College 
better fits that boy or girl to earn their 
living upon graduation than any other train- 
ing or education they could get. 

Heald's Business College occupies three 
floors of the splendid new building at the 
corner of Sixteenth Street and San Pablo 
Avenue. In fitting up Heald's Business 
College of Oakland, men who knew exactly 
the requirements in the way of equipment 
were given instructions to buy whatever in 




T. B. BRIDGES 

Manager Heald's Business College 

Oakland, California 

their judgment was needed. They were not 
restricted as to how much they were to 
spend, but to buy everything that was nec- 
essary to make the equipment, if possible, 
far superior to that of any business school 
in the country. That they knew what to 



Heald's Business College 381 

buy, a visit to the school will amply demon- large, individual office desks, giving stu- 
strate. Visitors who have seen any similar dents ample space for their books and pa- 
schools have unhesitatingly declared this pgrs. The typing department is equipped 
school to be the best equipped of any they ^^.j^,, over one hundred machines of the 



have ever seen. One feature alone of the 



standard makes and latest models. 



equipment is the office practice and bank- -.. tt i ,. t-. • 
ing department, which represents an invest- However, Heald s Busmess College has 
ment equal in value to the entire equipment ^'^''^y' recognized the fact that equipment 
of other schools. These office and banking •''°"^ ^^^^ "°t "^-''^^ the school, and there- 
fixtures are polished oak. plate and beveled fo^e a corps of the ablest expert teachers 
glass, brass and marble, and were made es- supplement these superior facilities. Oak- 
pecially for Heald's Business College. Very land is indeed fortunate to have such a 
few banks have anything better. The desks strong, well-equipped educational institu- 
uscd in the commercial department are tion. 



322 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




Polytechnic College of Engineering, Thirteenth and Madison Streets 



Polytechnic Business College and Polytechnic 
College of Engineering 




HE POLYTECHNIC COL- 
LEGE had its origin in the 
demand on the part of the 
public of the Pacific Coast 
for a business training and 
technical school of the highest grade and 
merit. 

The Polytechnic Business College and the 
Polytechnic College of Engineering occupy 
two very elegant buildings, and while they 
are segregated with reference to their 
courses of study and plan of operation, yet 
they are under the same management. 

Professors W. E. Gibson and H. C. In- 
gram are the owners and proprietors of this 
institution, and it has attained without 



doubt the highest success in the field of 
practical education. The rapid growth, pres- 
tige, popularity and patronage that the 
Polytechnic has enjoyed has been phenome- 
nal and is unprecedented in the history of 
similar schools of the great West. 

It has been the aim of these men to es- 
tablish and maintain an educational institu- 
tion in Oakland of the highest grade and 
merit, and the universal verdict is they have 
"made good." 

The Polytechnic Business College is rec- 
ognized as the leading school of its kind 
west of Chicago. It is a great "clearing 
house" between the world of business and 
those who aspire to immediate employment 



Polytechnic Business College 



323 





PROF. H. C. INGRAM 



PROF. W. E. GIBSON 



334 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




POLYTFXHNIC BUSINESS CoLLEGE 



325 



with splendid salaries and futures filled with 
opportunities. 

The graduates of the Polytechnic Busi- 
ness College are to be found in almost 
every office of any magnitude throughout 
the Pacific Coast States. Scarcely has a 
class graduated when every member is in 
remunerative employment, and scarcely has 
the last graduate been placed when the tele- 
phone rings another request, and often- 
times the demand for graduates of this col- 
lege is far in excess of the supply. A visit 
to some of the larger offices of the various 
corporations will reveal the fact that nearly 
all of their employees are graduates of the 
Polytechnic. For example, the Oakland 
Gas Light and Heat Company has from 
eighteen to twenty-five graduates of this 
college. In fact, this school is endorsed 
and recommended by business and profes- 
sional men, court reporters and men of high 
standing throughout the West. 

The Polytechnic College of Engineering. 

The aim of the founders of the Polytech- 
nic College of Engineering is to establish 
and maintain a college of engineering with 
a complete equipment of instruments and 
apparatus, machine shops and laboratories, 
that will enable them to give a complete 
and practical training in all lines of engi- 
neering work. This college maintains the 
highest standards in all technical training 
and combines practice with theory. It em- 
phasizes the essentials and eliminates the 
non-essentials. This college appeals to 
j-oung men who wish to secure a high-grade 
course and to have an opportunity of spe- 
cializing. 

The new engineering building is occupied 
entirely by the Polytechnic College of En- 
gineering. It is a concrete building of the 
modified Mission style of architecture, four 
stories in height and of superior design and 
construction. Comfort and convenience 
have been studied throughout the entire 
building; all of the classrooms and depart- 
ments are perfectly lighted and ventilated. 



and the building is heated throughout by 
steam. The first floor is occupied by the 
office and shops of the Oakland Engineer- 
ing and Construction Company. This com- 
pany is affiliated with the college and is 
doing a general engineering business. 

Through this company the college is en- 
abled to give its students practical experi- 
ence in actual engineering work. The sec- 
ond floor contains the offices of the college, 
recitation rooms, electrical laboratory, sta- 
tionery store and a large study hall for the 
use of the students. The third floor con- 
tains the principal's office and library, reci- 
tation rooms, physical laboratory, large 
study hall and assembly room. The fourth 
floor contains the chemical laboratory, as- 
saying laboratory, large drawing depart- 
ment, recitation rooms, reading room and 
blueprint room. 

The Polytechnic College of Engineering 
is the only private school of engineering on 
the Pacific Coast equipped with extensive 
machine shops, pattern shops, electrical, 
steam, physical and chemical laboratories, 
together with tools, instruments and appa- 
ratus necessary to teach engineering sub- 
jects in a practical manner. 

The Polytechnic College of Engineering 
is the only school in the West that has 
solved the problem of connecting the school 
with the practical engineering and indus- 
trial world. 

Contracts are taken in all lines of engi- 
neering and construction work, and ad- 
vanced students are given actual engineer- 
ing experience while pursuing their regular 
course. Students are thus made familiar 
with the engineering problems with which 
they will meet in the practice of their pro- 
fession. 

The Polytechnic is the only private 
school of engineering in the West that 
grants degrees. 

Thorough and complete courses are sus- 
tained in civil, electrical, mechanical and 
mining engineering, gas, steam and hydrau- 
lic engineering, also architecture. 



326 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




College Faculty and One Thousand Students of the Polytechnic Business College 



Polytechnic Business College 



327 




330 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



t 




4V'-- I' I ji. r: r If f- 
|t I* ii r f ^^^ 

If |r- ii Is. Il t* 



- b i» i* Il r 

F ■ - te 

! I?, u t-M I . 




The New City Hall under construction, 14th and Washington Streets, Oakland, California 



New City Hall 



331 



New City Hall, Oakland, California 




HEN a great enterprise in a 
land or community is con- 
ceived and executed, the cred- 
it and the honor for the orig- 
inal conception is seldom 
known to those who view it in its com- 
pleted state. Seldom are records kept of 
the preliminary work and thoughts which 
in succeeding days become history, so that 
the interested searcher may find the names 
of those responsible for the great enter- 
prise or movement. 

The New City Hall now being erected in 
Oakland is probably no exception to the 
rule, but its history is so recent that we 
can at this date readily place honor and 
credit for this magnificent building, and in 
two years the citizens of Oakland will have 
the pleasure and delight of entering the 
edifice which was conceived by them and by 
their representatives, and the honor of its 
success cannot be divided, nor can it rest 
upon the shoulders of anyone in particular, 
but to the whole, who have so magnificent- 
ly responded to the call within themselves; 
consequently the success will be all the 
greater. 

The architectural competition of the City 
Hall was one of the most important held 
in recent years, and considering the emi- 
nence of the competitors, such firms as Mc- 
Kim, Mead & White, York & Sawyer, Cass 
Gilbert, Peabody & Stearns, and others who 
entered this competition, the amounts of 
the awards, the artistic merits of the draw- 
ings submitted, and the fairness shown on 
every hand, this competition was one of 
the most prominent held in America. 

The successful firm is Messrs. Palmer & 
Hornbostel of New York, already well 
known, having designed the Williamsburg 
and Queensboro bridges in New York City, 
the New York State Education Building at 
Albany, the Carnegie Technical Schools, the 
University of Pittsburg, and the Soldiers' 



Memorial Auditorium at Pittsburg, and the 
successful competitor in the recent compe- 
tition for the Northwestern University 
Buildings at Evanston, Illinois. It might 
be mentioned here that Mr. Hornbostel, of 
this firm, was the author of the design 
placed first among those submitted by 
Americans in the notable competition held 
by Mrs. Phoebe Hearst for the Universitj'^ 
of California. 

Briefly, the design for the Oakland City 
Hall may be said to consist of a low, wide 
base, fronting on an entire city block, serv- 
ing as a platform, from which rises a large 
central shaft or tower, which is surmounted 
by a beautiful lantern of masonry, contain- 
ing a clock on its four sides. The base, con- 
sisting of the three lower stories above the 
ground, will be decorated with a dignified, 
modified Corinthian order, which will fully 
express the classical traditions of the beau- 
tiful Renaissance architecture. This lower 
part in all respects represents the monu- 
mental character which such a civic build- 
ing should possess. Its entrance on Wash- 
ington street will be flanked by large granite 
Corinthian columns, behind which rests the 
beautiful screen of bronze and glass. The 
facades in composition are composed of 
pilasters between the windows, projecting 
very slightly from the walls. The window 
openings will be trimmed with ornately de- 
signed architectural terra cotta, forming ex- 
quisite trimmings for the beautiful, white 
California granite and the deep colors trans- 
mitted from the glass. 

The shaft or tower which represents 
the office feature of the structure shows 
its own individual character. Here again 
the architects have made use of the heavy 
granite, trimmed beautifully with the fine- 
ly modeled architectural terra cotta at the 
window openings. The composition of the 
material is truly American, and character- 
istic of a type of architecture which this 



332 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



firm lias widely developed; the strong, 
massive granite giving the impression and 
feeling of strength and the lighter, grace- 
ful terra cotta serving its purpose as or- 
namentation, thereby bringing about a 
harmonious composition which applies to 
the many arts of life beside that of arch- 
itecture. The shaft is crowned at the top 
by a heavy, projecting cornice, firmly and 
securely anchored to the structural steel 
work, and the perforated railing again 
shows the exquisite use of the lighter 
material. From the fifteenth floor rises 
the lantern, with its octagonal form, 
springing from a square base and sur- 
mounted with a composition of the Ionic 
order, its columns supporting the heavy 
consoles which incase the clocks and 
apparently support the dome. The deep 
recesses and perforations of the lantern 
will give a fine play of light and shadow, 
strongly reflected and marked by the ma- 
terial, which will be dull, glazed terra 
cotta. 

The small rectangular openings over 
the arches of the shaft indicate the prison 
cells contained within the walls, for it is 
at this level of the structure that the 
jail and its hospital has been planned, 
a novel and unique feature, conceived for 
safety and sanitary purposes. 

The interior of the building will be a 
marvel of grandeur and beauty. The 
visitor enters the building by the three 
low granite steps from the sidewalk on 
Washington Street and finds himself in a 
vaulted vestibule sixty-six feet in height. 
From this point he can look directly into 
the central dome, sixty feet in diameter, 
the crown of which is one hundred and 
twenty-five feet away and eighty feet 
above the floor of the vestibule. Eleva- 
tors on either side of the grand stair- 
way, which is directly before him, give ac- 
cess to all floors of the building. The 
magnificent stairs, sixteen feet in width 
at the vestibule, divide at a central space 
between the first and third floors, join- 
ing together at the third floor in the 
grand rotunda crowned by the dome. 
The rotunda is flanked with Doric col- 
umns and is lighted by six semi-circular 
windows, each of the two largest being 
thirty feet in diameter. The vestibule 
stairs and rotunda will be finished in 



imitation limestone, jointed, tooled and 
carved, so that the visitor will see a mod- 
ern application of the latest methods in 
fireproof construction, exquisitely beau- 
tified. Today the modern builder does 
not attempt to use the huge, heavy, ex- 
pensive methods of the ancients; instead, 
the science of building has developed the 
light frame, covered by fireproofing ma- 
terial, such as terra cotta and metal lath, 
to which is applied again the modern in- 
ventions, namely, refined plaster, and, in 
this case, the ground limestone mixed to 
form a chemical union, so that the fin- 
ished walls bear the appearance of all the 
grandeur and massiveness of Italian mon- 
uments. 

At the top of the stairs, and some 
distance back, is the entrance to the 
Council Chamber, which will be used 
for public sessions of the Mayor and 
City Commissioners or receptions to dis- 
tinguished guests of the city, a large 
room, 64x40 feet, and 40 feet in height, 
with a vaulted ceiling. Like the vesti- 
bule and rotunda, the Council Chamber 
will be finished in imitation limestone for 
the walls and ceiling, and the floor will 
be composed of marble and cork. Dur- 
ing the day this chamber is lighted by 
six large windows, penetrating the large 
barrel vault. At night it is lighted by 
one of the most ingenious methods de- 
vised by expert illuminating engineers. 
In general the lighting will be by 
Cooper-Hewitt and the Moore tubes and 
incandescent lights, which are reflected 
through a perforated pattern in the vault 
above. This is controlled by what are 
termed "dimmers." The lights are oper- 
ated by the pushing of an ordinary switch 
button, which, in turn, operates an auto- 
matic switch. This automatic switch 
forms the connection which turns on the 
current, and the light starts from a 
minimum candle power and gradually 
rises to a maximum, when it returns to 
a minimum. The exact lighting eflfect 
can be controlled by again pushing the 
button when the illumination has reached 
the desired point. Thus a maximum or a 
minimum amount of light can be ob- 
tained by this method of lighting. This 
is not a new scheme, although it is some- 
what novel. A similar illuminating effect 



New City Hall 



333 



has been developed in the Allegheny 
County Soldiers' Memorial Auditorium at 
Pittsburg, and has been the cause for 
wide and favorable comment. 

The Police Courts, Fire and Police 
Departments, the Mayor's suite of offices 
and the Commissioners' offices will be 
in the lower three stories. Above the 
fourth floor and to the eleventh, inclu- 
sive, the administrative departments of 
the Cit}' will have their offices, and 
every conceivable accommodation has 
been arranged for these various depart- 
ments, each having its own needs and 
wants cared for. 

From the twelfth to the fourteenth 
floor, inclusive, is the novel feature of the 
City Prison and its emergency hospital. 
The prison for men contains forty steel 
cells of the latest device, each having 
a toilet and lavatory and each venti- 
lated. The prisons for the sexes are 
separated so that each is remote from 
the other. There are two open-air exer- 
cising courts, each being twelve feet by 
fifty-four feet in extent and one hundred 
and seventy-five feet above the side- 
walk. 

Another feature attached to the prison 
is the directness of the handling of pris- 
oners. As the prisoner is brought in by 
the patrol wagon he is conducted to a 
special elevator and taken directly to 
the jail at the twelfth floor, there being 
no openings in the elevator shaft be- 
tween the second floor, where the court 
rooms are located, and the twelfth floor. 
Thus this eleyator is reserved entirely 
for jail purposes, having openings on the 
ground, second and twelfth floors only. 

All sanitary arrangements will be made 
for the health of the prisoners and jail- 
ers. Shower and tub baths are plenti- 
ful. The floors will be of cement, the 
walls will be of enameled brick and the 
ceilings of hard plaster, the cells, of 
course, having their steel ceilings and 



walls. The exercise courts will be laid 
with Ludowici Celadon promenade tile; 
the walls of faced brick. These courts 
are open on top so that pure, fresh air 
may be had at all times. The lighting of 
the jail, too, is a feature in itself. At 
various points push buttons will be 
placed, controlling automatic switches, 
which, by the pressing of one from any 
point, will flood the three floors with light. 

The Oakland City Hall will be the high- 
est building west of Chicago. The cornice 
of the main tower is two hundred and 
seven feet above the sidewalk; the top of 
the lantern is three hundred and thirty- 
five feet eleven inches, and the top of 
the flagpole three hundred seventy-six 
feet eleven inches. The construction, as 
specified, is thoroughly first class and as 
fireproof and earthquake proof as science 
and modern methods can make it. The 
foundation now being installed is a contin- 
uous raft of concrete, reinforced with 
twisted steel bars. The concrete is two 
feet nine inches in thickness, extending 
down under the grillage beams and act- 
ing as a solid mat. This is intended to 
absorb, as far as human ingenuity can de- 
vise, the shock of earthquakes and to tie 
the building together and insure its vi- 
brating as one homogeneous mass. The 
walls are to be reinforced and anchored to 
the structural steel with closely spaced steel 
rods, extending in a horizontal and verti- 
cal direction. The floors will be of rein- 
forced concrete, the partitions structural 
terra cotta and the ceilings wire lath and 
plaster; the interior trim of California 
woods. 

In short, the building takes advantage 
of all the latest devices of theory and 
practice, and should stand unharmed for 
centuries to come. Furthermore, it will 
stand as a monument to all visitors as a 
beautiful piece of architecture, built with 
California materials and erected by Cali- 
fornia men. 



334 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Oakland's New Charter 

^y James P. Montgomery 




N JULY 6th, 1910, the citizens 
of Oakland chose the follow- 
ing freeholders to frame a 
new charter for the city of 
Oakland, viz.: R. H. Cham- 
berlain, William C. Clark, I. H. Clay, 
Charles H. Daly, George Dornin, Albert H. 
Elliot, Raymond B. Felton, John Forrest, 
Richard M. Hamb, Hugh Hogan, Albert 
Kayser, John J. McDonald, George C. Par- 
dee, Harrison S. Robinson and Fred L. 
Shaw. 

With unselfish devotion to the important 
civic duty reposed in them, the freeholders 
prepared a charter which was adopted by 
the citizens of Oakland on the 8th day of 
December, 1910, and duly ratified by the 
Legislature of the State of California on 
the 13th day of February, 1911. 

In the molding of the charter the framers 
studiously garnered thought from the va- 
rious municipal charters of the United 
States and were thus enabled to give to the 
people of Oakland the wisdom and ripened 
thought of many progressive and enlight- 
ened cities. 

Upon this charter will largely depend the 
future destiny of this municipality, for if it 
is adequate to the expanding needs and 
growth of the city her people will soon 
awaken to the vast opportunities now lying 
dormant in her midst. 

It would be vain to expect the charter in 
its inception to prove faultless, sufficient 
should its main features be true to the needs 
of the people, leaving the future to chasten 
what chance blemishes it may contain. 

Elimination of Partisan Politics. 

The first feature in the new charter 
worthy of special commendation is the pro- 
vision which removes the city of Oakland 
from the narrow slough of partisan politics. 
No element in municipal, state or national 



politics has tended more to mire the people 
in base servitude than the fetich of partisan 
politics. 

Commission Form of Government. 

The charter provides for the city of Oak- 
land what is commonly known as the com- 
mission form of government, with the fol- 
lowing elective officers: Mayor, Auditor 
(who shall also be ex-ofificio Assessor), 
four Commissioners and six School Direc- 
tors. The Mayor and the four Commis- 
sioners to constitute the City Council, with 
the Mayor as the presiding oflficer thereof. 

The City Council must meet every day 
at 11 a.m., Saturdays, Sundays and legal 
holidays excepted, and each Commissioner 
must be in his oflfice on working days at 10 
a. m.; but unwittingly the charter has failed 
to provide the same mandate for the Mayor. 

Executive and Administrative Powers. 

The executive and administrative powers 
are primarily lodged in five departments, re- 
spectively: 

1. Department of Public Aflfairs, under 
the supervision of the Mayor. 

3. Department of Revenue and Finance, 
under the Commissioner of Revenue and Fi- 
nance. 

3. Department of Health and Safety, un- 
der the supervision of the Commissioner of 
Public Health and Safety. 

4. Department of Public Works, under 
the supervision of the Commissioner of 
Public Works. 

5. Department of Streets, under the su- 
pervision of the Commissioner of Streets. 

The several departments enumerated 
above, with the exception of Department 
of Public Affairs, to be assigned amongst 
the various Commissioners after election 
by the City Council. 



Oakland's New Charter 



335 



Board of Education. 

The Board of Education to consist of 
the six school directors and the Commis- 
sioner of Revenue and Finance. 

Public Officials to Devote Their Entire 
Working Time to the City. 

One of the intents of the charter is that 
all public ofTicials shall devote their en- 
tire working time to the city's business, 



lie service capable of checkmating the 
greed of astute private grafters, the greater 
the likelihood of municipal governments 
rising to the duty of properly conserving 
the rights and interests of the people. 

Civil Service. 

Under the new charter, practically all 
the city employees are placed under the 
civil service, excepting a few of the chief 




J. P. MONTGOMERY 

who has written an article analyzing Oakland's New Charter, 
which, though mildly critical, gives a good idea 
of its salient points. 

though the wording of this important provi- appointive ofificers of the city. It is pro- 
sion of the charter has more elasticity of vided there shall be appointed by the Mayor 



evasion than the public good would seem 
to warrant. 

The remainder of the officers and em- 
ployes of the city are appointive. The 
salaries allowed to the Mayor and Com- 
missioners, while not in keeping with the 
magnitude of their responsibilities, are, 
nevertheless, a marked advance in the right 



a Civil Service Board, consisting of three 
members, whose duty it shall be to classify 
the employees of the various departments 
of the city; to examine applicants for of- 
fice, and to dismiss from service after pub- 
lic trial and conviction, incapable or venial 
employees. The civil service provision 
seems to be in the main a wise thought. 



direction, for the sooner it is realized that yet it may be a question whether it would 
due compensation must be paid to munici- not have been better to have provided an 
pal employees, if men are desired in pub- elective board in order to remove as far 



336 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



as possible the men occupying the delicate 
trust of civil service commissioners of the 
municipality from the influence of the ap- 
pointive power. 

The Recall, the Initiative and Referendum. 

Perhaps no feature of the new charter 
is more expressive of modern civic thought, 
than the provisions providing for the Re- 
call, the Initiative and Referendum. 

Whatever blemishes this charter may 
contain seem almost redeemed in the pos- 
session of these salient provisions, which 
enable the people at all times to sit in mas- 
tery and judgment over their representa- 
tives. 

The percentage for the recall is 15 per 
cent, of the total vote cast for Mayor at the 
last preceding general municipal election. 

When a special election is desired, the 
percentage for the initiative is 15 per cent, 
of the votes cast for the Mayor at the last 
preceding general municipal election. When 
the question sought to be presented to the 
voters is to be voted on at a general muni- 
cipal election, only 5 per cent of the total 
votes cast for the Mayor at the last general 
municipal election is required. 

The provision for the referendum requires 
a petition of 10 per cent, of the entire vote 
cast for Mayor at the last preceding gen- 
eral municipal election. 

With these provisions in her charter the 
public official must needs realize that he is 
no longer an autocrat, but a servant of the 
people and that he must act modestly, pru- 



dently and justly in his position of trust. 

Under the Initiative and Referendum a 
watchful people can at all times interpose 
the sovereign power to checkmate the sac- 
rifice of the public weal by incompetent or 
dishonest representatives. 

If any serious criticism were ventured to 
Oakland's New Charter, it would be to the 
effect that it is rather encumbered by a 
prolixity of safeguards: that tlicre have 
been too many checks placed upon the ex- 
ercise of the sovereign power l)y the elec- 
tive officers of the city; for it would seem 
that great amplitude of power should have 
been conferred upon the Mayor and Com- 
missioners, in order that delay in public 
business might not be occasioned by need- 
less restraints and unnecessary restrictions 
of power. With the Recall, Initiative and 
Referendum at command, there is little to 
fear public servants transcending beyond 
the sovereign power of the people to cor- 
rect. 

Doubtless, under the new charter for the 
first few years the expenses of the munici- 
pality may be increased, for new charters, 
"like our strange garments, cleave not to 
their mould, but with the aid of use." But 
as the charter is better understood and its 
profusion of detail gradually eliminated by 
judicious pruning, it will be found that its 
framers moulded faithfully and well the 
ground work of a charter which will speak 
for them lasting credit and for Oakland, 
the City of Destiny, the glory of possessing 
a charter without peer amongst the muni- 
cipalities of the world. 



Hon. Frank K. Mott 



337 



Hon. Frank K. Mott 

Mayor of the City of Oakland, California 




HE names of "Oakland" and 
"Alott" are heard in conjunc- 
tion so often that it indicates 
a pretty close affiliation, apart 
from the executive office he 
holds, and the reason for this is apparent. 
Mr. Mott is not only Mayor, he is some- 
thing more: he is the organizer of the Oak- 
land Chamber of Commerce, practically the 
founder of the Merchants' Exchange, a 
business man of solid financial standing 
and a progressive and conscientious citizen. 

The life and struggles of most successful 
men of the self-made type provide an inter- 
esting story, and this is true of Mayor Mott, 
whose career is typically American. 

Mayor Mott is a native son, born in San 
Francisco in 1866. When he was two years 
old, his parents, Peter D. Mott and Mrs. 
Fannie K. Mott, removed to Oakland where 
they established their home. Frank was the 
eldest of six children; he began his educa- 
tion at the old Prescott School and con- 
tinued in attendance there until he was 
eleven years of age. 

About that time the father died, leaving 
the family dependent upon the efforts of a 
mother who had already been almost im- 
poverished by the expenses incurred in pro- 
viding her husband with medical attendance 
during his last illness, which extended over 
a couple of years. The cause of death was 
a second stroke of paralysis. 

As a consequence of the first stroke, the 
elder Mott became incapacitated for work, 
and the maintenance of the family depended 
on the savings which he had accumulated 
during his years of labor, which, however, 
were not overly liberal because of the ex- 
pense of maintaining a family which was 
both youthful and helpless. The father was 
a stationary engineer and at one time was 
engaged in that capacity in the United 



States Mint in San Francisco, and at the 
time of his death, in 1877, was fifty-two 
years of age. 

The present Mayor continued his educa- 
tion at Degen's Academy after leaving the 
Prescott School, but after two terms, feel- 
ing that he had now acquired a good aver- 
age education, and having a strong desire 
to lend his aid to the support of the family, 
left the academy and looked for employ- 
ment. 

He found his first work with the Western 
Union Telegraph Company as messenger, 
and for his carefulness and reliability was 
soon promoted, first to a position in the 
office and later to lineman and collector. 
His next work was with George S. Brown, 
who had a hardware store at Tenth and 
Broadway. It was in this business that he 
first showed his business acumen and able 
management, for, despite a number of 
changes in the firm, he showed a strong de- 
gree of continuity and finally became sole 
proprietor of the business, which he suc- 
cessfully conducted for a number of years. 
He eventually sold his interests in the hard- 
ware business to Brittain & Co. at a profit- 
able figure. 

He is now at the head of the Frank K. 
Mott Company, one of the best known and 
most solid real estate firms in the city of 
Oakland. 

Mr. Mott was appointed by Mayor Pardee 
to the City Council in 1894 from the old 
First Ward, to fill the vacancy from that 
section caused by the retirement of Henry 
P. Dalton, who had been elected County 
Assessor. 

In the city election of that year he was 
nominated by the Municipal League to suc- 
ceed himself as councilman from the First 
Ward and was elected by a handsome ma- 
jority. In the second year of the term of 



338 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




HON. FRANK K. MOTT 
Mayor 



Hon. Frank K. Mott 



339 



two years he served as President of the 
City Council. 

He was renominated at the expiration of 
his term, but owing to the pressure of pri- 
vate business was compelled to decline to 
run. 

Two years later his friends insisted on 
his again returning to the Council and he 
was again elected, having been nominated 
by the Republican convention and endorsed 
by the Municipal League. At the end of his 
term he again returned to private life and 
devoted all of his attention and energy to 
hi.'^ business. 

In 1901 and again in 1903 he was strongly 
urged to be a candidate for the mayoralty, 
but declined on account of business reasons. 
In 1905 his friends again insisted on naming 
him for the office of mayor. After some 
consideration he consented and was nomi- 
nated for the office in the city convention 
in February, his nomination being endorsed 
by the Municipal League and the Demo- 
crat.<. 

At the end of his term he was renomi- 
nated by the Republican city convention 
and was endorsed by the Municipal League, 
the Democrats and the Union Labor Party. 
There was practically no opposition, which 
is something that rarely happens in politics. 
He was, of course, re-elected, and when 
his second term came to a close he was 
again nominated by the Republicans and 
endorsed by the Democratic, Union Labor 
and Municipal League parties, and was 
again returned to the mayoralty. 

Mr. Mott has the distinction of being the 
first mayor to be elected under the new di- 
rect primary law. The people proved last 
spring that he is not a "machine" mayor 
when, by direct popular vote, he was again 
nominated and subsequently elected by a 
handsome majority to serve as chief execu- 
tive for the fourth time. 

The work which Mayor Mott has per- 
formed during his three terms as Mayor 
has been almost superhuman when com- 
pared with that accomplished in former 
times. He has brought harmony into the 
councils of the administration. There is a 
bond of sympathy and appreciation between 
the people and the local government for the 
reason that the public has come to realize 
that the administration is inspired with the 



purpose of upbuilding and expending the 
taxes where they will do the most good. 

It is not necessary to write in generalities 
in telling of Mr. Mott's work. In 1906 the 
people voted over a million and a half bond 
issue for park and sewer improvements. 
During his first administration the police 
department was doubled and two new en- 
gine houses were constructed. During his 
second term there was a settlement with 
the Southern Pacific with respect to the 
water front, the corporation yard was estab- 
lished, the street department was reorgan- 
ized, the project for an auxiliary salt water 
plant for fire purposes was inaugurated, 
and this has recently been brought to com- 
pletion. Fire protection was further im- 
proved, three more engines and two engine 
houses were provided. Lake Merritt was 
dredged, a museum was established on the 
shores of the lake, and a playgrounds sys- 
tem was inaugurated, and a park commis- 
sion was created for the special purpose of 
looking after the parks of the city. 

During the last term there were con- 
structed more engine houses, ordinances 
were passed for the betterment of sanitary 
conditions, suburbs were annexed, and Oak- 
land is to have one of the finest city halls 
in the West. 

Mr. Mott's record is clean. We have had 
prosperity under his administration because 
he is a good business man. He has brought 
about harmony because he is fair, gives 
close attention to the arguments and sug- 
gestions of his colleagues and does not 
claim all the credit for the good work of 
the administration. He has always been on 
the side of improvements, reforms and bet- 
ter conditions. We do not think it too 
much to claim that the excellent work of 
the present administration under Mayor 
Mott has had no small influence in the rapid 
commercial progress Oakland has made 
during the past few years. 

Extensive water front improvements are 
under way. $2,500,000 being already on hand 
for this work. Large and permanent docks 
are under course of construction along the 
southern and western water front and a 
system of belt line railways is to be con- 
structed at the earliest possible date. 

The Mayor is a member of a dozen fra- 
ternal orders, including the Knights of 



340 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Pythias, the Elks, F. and A. M. and is a 
member of the Union League Club of San 
Francisco. 

He has been both a wage-earner and an 
employer, which has given him a particu- 
larly broad insight into general conditions 
and has made him popular among all 
classes. He fairly radiates energy, is al- 
ways accessible and transacts the large 
amount of business coming before him sys- 



tematically and promptly and seems to cre- 
ate an atmosphere of good cheer amongst 
his fellow workers. 

In the natural sequence of events, it 
would not be at all surprising if Mr. Mott 
would be called upon to serve the public in 
a broader field, for he has built up a repu- 
tation which places him among the fore- 
most men on the Pacific Coast. 




Harold A. Wilkinson 



341 



Harold A. Wilkinson 

Secretary to the Mayor 



NE of the clean-cut and active 
young men of the administra- 
tion is H. A. Wilkinson, Sec- 
retary to the Mayor. His po- 
sition in the Mayor's office is 



one of no little responsibility and one that 
involves a large amount of detail work, as 
well as a thorough knowledge of the work- 
ings of the various departments of the city's 
government. 





HAROLD A. WILKINSON 
Sec'y to the Mayor 

Mr. Wilkinson was born in Oakland on 
October 16, 1880, and is a son of Albert E. 
Wilkinson, who came to Oakland some 
thirty-five years ago. The elder Wilkinson 
has large dredging and manufacturing in- 
terests throughout the State and is inter- 
ested in the Golden State Miners' Iron 
Works of San Francisco. 

After going through the public schools 
of Oakland as a boy, young Wilkinson felt 
a restless desire to make his own way in 



the world and secured a position with the 
Oakland "Tribune," where he worked for a 
year or so. In his early youth he always 
seemed ready for work and enjoyed earning 
his own spending money, Although his 
father was perfectly willing and well able to 
defray his educational expenses, the boy ex- 
hibited an unusual degree of independence 
by paying his college tuition from his own 
earnings. 

In December, 1899, he received the ap- 
pointment as Secretary to the Warden of 
Folsom Prison, which position he occupied 
until 1903. His next appointment was to 
the office of Secretary to the Street Com- 
missioner of the city of Oakland, where he 
remained until 1910. 

After the fall election of 1910 he accepted 
the appointment as Secretary to Mayor 
Mott, to fill the vacancy caused by the 
resignation of Mr. Tyrell, who had just been 
elected State Senator. 

His appointment to his present office was 
largely based upon considerations of per- 
sonal fitness, due to his considerable experi- 
ence and knowledge of municipal affairs. 
Since he has had charge of the detail work 
of the Mayor's office he has endeavored to 
maintain a strict adherence to the prin- 
ciples of the administration, together with 
a careful regard for the business concerns 
of the municipality. His uniform courtesy 
and consideration to the public who have 
business to transact at the Mayor's office 
have made him many friends. 

Mr. Wilkinson has been a hard worker 
for the success of his party at the polls, and 
has been active in the organization of nu- 
merous political clubs during the past sev- 
eral years, and altogether has become a 
valuable acquisition to his party. 

He possesses the telling attributes of 
youth, vigor, integrity and ability, and is 
bound to be heard from in the future politi- 
cal history of the city. 



342 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Harry S. Anderson 

Commissioner of Public Works 





^ 



R. HARRY S. ANDERSON, 
the vigorous young commis- 
sioner recently nominated by 
the direct primary vote, and 
subsequently elected by a 
comfortable majority over his opponent, 
Edwin Meese, one of the strongest men in 
Alameda County from which to wrest a po- 
litical victory, has, through this election 
alone, proven his popularity' and executive 
ability. 




Courtesy of Dorsas Photo 



Mr. Anderson is a product of California 
soil, born in Oakland on September 3, 1877, 
and has lived in this city all his life. Upon 
the foundation of a practical public school 
education, he entered the carpet business 
with his father, S. Anderson, twenty-one 
years ago, when but a boy, and has been 
a success in this business ever since. The 
carpet business was established in the old 
Masonic Temple Building, being located 



there for three years; it was then moved 
to 1114 Broadway, where it remained for 
twelve years, and finally to its present loca- 
tion at 405 Thirteenth Street. 

The young Commissioner's continued suc- 
cess in business would seem to argue well 
for his success in his present important pub- 
lic office. Although this is his first elective 
public office, he has been active in politics 
for some years past. He was Secretary of 
the County Republican Central Committee 
of Alameda County, Secretary- of the Sev- 
enth Ward Republican Club, and was Secre- 
•;ary of the last State Republican Commit- 
tee's Convention under the old regime, be- 
fore the direct primary law went into effect. 

Mr. Anderson stands for a clean, business 
administration and states that he will work 
hard toward that end in his department, 
which has supervision of some of the 
most important matters in the city. As 
Commissioner of Public Works he has 
charge of the construction work on the new 
million-dollar city hall, the development 
work on the water front, the construction 
of all new school houses and full charge of 
all matters pertaining to wharves, docks and 
shipping. 

Mr. Anderson is well known in fraternal 
circles, being a member of the Elks, all the 
Masonic orders, including the Mystic Shrine, 
Moose, Owls, Fraternal Brotherhood, Royal 
Arcanum, and some half dozen others. He 
also enjoys the distinction of holding the 
position of "Speaker of the Senate" of the 
National Union, which is the third highest 
gift of the order in the United States. He 
is one of the most active young men in the 
city in furthering the cause of all athletics 
and is one of the large stockholders in the 
Oakland baseball team. 

He was married to Miss Edna Frances 
Camp of Oakland on April 23, 1901. 

In meeting Mr. Anderson one is im- 
pressed with the energy with which he 
tackles his work. He is thoroughly alive to 
all important public issues, he is clean-cut 
and direct in his methods and should make 
an excellent public official. 



William J. Baccus 



343 




WILLIAM J. BACCUS 

Commissioner of Streets 

Courlay of Biis/imU Photo 



William J. Baccus 

Commissioner of Streets 




^lOMMISSIONER WILLIAM J. 
BACCUS, who has been in 
the public eye as a city official 
for nearly ten years, is self- 
made and has acquired his 
success solely through his own energies and 
by making the best of his opportunities, 
and it might be stated here that he has him- 
self created most of his opportunities. 

He has always lived on California soil 
and under California environment, having 
been born in San Francisco on November 



17, 1869. Coming to Oakland when a lad 
of ten, he received a practical education in 
the public schools here, and has been a resi- 
dent of this city ever since. 

Mr. Baccus has been brought up on good, 
plain, honest hard work. After finishing 
his schooling he was engaged in the team- 
ing business with W. H. Parrish, and then 
learned the bricklaying trade, working at 
that for several years. He was not the 
young man to stay long at the bottom, how- 
ever, and soon saw greater opportunities in 



H44 



Greater Oakland, 19J1 



the contracting business. With a thorough 
knowledge of general construction work, 
acquired through practical experience, and 
by virtue of his honesty, thoroughness and 
promptness in fulfilling his many large con- 
tracts, he has become one of the foremost 
contractors in the city, his most recent work 
being the reconstruction of the Syndicate 
Building. 

In 1903 he accepted the nomination on 
the Republican ticket for member of the 
City Council, receiving the endorsement of 
the Union Labor forces with whom he is 
strongly affiliated, and was elected by a big 
majority. His work in the Council was so 
satisfactory to the public that he has been 
continuously elected ever since, having 
served four terms. 

As Councilman he served as chairman of 
the Street Committee for four years. He 
has always been a hard and consistent 
worker for better streets. When he first 
went into office the mileage of permanent 
pavements in the city was very small, and 
it is largely through his efforts and influence 



that the number of streets enjoying perma- 
nent pavements has been so greatly in- 
creased. 

It was largely through his record as 
Councilman that he was nominated by di- 
rect primary vote for the office of Commis- 
sioner under the new charter and elected 
by a goodly majority, and it would seem 
that as Commissioner of Streets, Mr. Bac- 
cus is assuredly the right man in the right 
place. 

Mr. Baccus is the son of Benjamin Bac- 
cus, one of the early pioneers of California 
who came to the Coast overland by team in 
1851. The elder Baccus worked with the 
Southern Pacific Company and was later 
engaged in the plumbing business in San 
Francisco. Mr. Baccus married Miss Cath- 
erine Muir, daughter of an early pioneer, in 
San Jose in 1896. There are three children: 
Volma, a daughter of 12; William J. Jr., 
10, and Robert, 7. He is a member of the 
Native Sons. Eagles' x\erie No. 7, Red Men, 
Moose and other fraternal orders and clubs. 




John Forrest 



:^45 



John Forre^ 



Commissioner of Revenue and Finance and Ex-Officio Member 
Board of Education 



R. JOHN FORREST, the new 
Commissioner of Revenue and 
Finance and cx-ofificio mem- 
ber of the Board of Educa- 
tion, is a self-made man in 
every sense of the term. Born in Ireland 
about fifty-one years ago, he came to Amer- 
ica when a mere lad, in 1873, and arrived in 





JOHxN FORREST 
Commissioner of Revenue and Finance 

Courtesy of Stewart Tkoto 

Oakland about three years later, in 1875. 

He has always made his own way in the 
world and took his first job in Oakland with 
the old San Pablo cable road, doing con- 
struction work. Following this he was with 
the Southern Pacific Company for many 
years as car repairer and inspector of air- 
brake equipment. He left the employ of 



the Southern Pacific at the time of the big 
strike in 1894, and entered the employ of 
the gas company where he also served for 
a number of years in various capacities. 
He next served the State as water front 
paver under Governor Pardee's administra- 
tion. 

His first appointive office in the city of 
Oakland was when he was made trench in- 
spector, which position involved the duties 
of examining and passing upon all trenches 
or openings in the city streets or elsewhere 
made by the various utility companies for 
water pipes, gas mains, telephone conduits, 
sewers, etc. In this position Mr. Forrest 
did careful, thorough and conscientious 
work. 

Mr. Forrest enjoys the proud distinction 
of having been elected a member of the 
freeholders of Oakland in framing the new 
charter, and served as chairman of the 
board during nearly all of its sessions. 

He was nominated in the direct primary 
vote as a candidate for Commissioner and 
was subsequently elected by a goodly ma- 
jority, which ofifice he is now occupying. 
As Commissioner he has supervision of the 
very important department of Revenue and 
Finance, and judging from the careful atten- 
tion he has given to whatever work he has 
had in hand in the past, he will no doubt 
give the public a conservative and business- 
like administration in his present ofifice. 

Mr. Forrest has been a prominent labor 
man all his life. Having been a worker 
himself he appreciates the needs and diffi- 
culties of all other workers and has done 
much to further the cause of labor. He is 
at present the president of the Gas Workers' 
Union of Oakland, which position he has 
held for many years. 

He is well liked by everyone, because his 
success has made no change in his attitude 
toward his friends, and the public has found 
him an unassuming, courteous and pains- 
taking official. 



346 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




F. C. TURNER 

Commissioner of Public Health 
AND Safety 

Couiiesy of S/cuati Photo 



Frederick Chester Turner 

Commissioner of Public Health and Safety 




OMMISSIONER FREDERICK 
CHESTER TURNER, now 
at the head of the Public 
Health and Safety Depart- 
ment of the city of Oakland, 
is widely known among his professional 
brethren on the Pacific Coast, and his thor- 
ough education and broad experience in his 
chosen work have given him an excellent 
equipment for his present duties. 

Mr. Turner is a New Yorker by birth, 
born in Buffalo, November 11, 1865. Com- 
ing to Oakland in his youth, he attended 



the public schools here, finishing his educa- 
tion at the University of California, gradu- 
ating with the degree of B. S. in 1887. 

After his graduation he took up his first 
work with the United States Engineers, en- 
gaging in river and harbor work. With the 
exception of one year, during which time 
he lived on a ranch, he was with the gov- 
ernment engineers as inspector, draftsman 
and assistant engineer, until the time of the 
Spanish-American War. Mr. Turner, after 
a competitive examination, obtained a com- 
mission as first lieutenant in the Second 



Frederick Chester Turner 



347 



United States Volunteer Engineer Regi- 
ment. His service covered a period of 
nearly a year, during which time he was 
engaged in the construction of a military 
post at Honolulu and performed various 
other engineering work under Major Lang- 
titt, U. S. Engineer. 

Upon receiving an honorable discharge 
from the army he returned to America and 
engaged in river and harbor work in San 
Diego and San Pedro harbors, after which 
he returned to Oakland. 

Mr. Turner accepted the nomination on 
the Republican ticket for City Engineer in 
1901 and was elected in April of that year 
by a flattering majority. The fact that he 
has been re-elected five successive times 
to the office is pretty conclusive evidence 
that he has the confidence and endorsement 
of the public. 

During his tenure of office over a million 
dollars have been expended on sewer work 
alone. The work that has been carried for- 
ward in the way of street improvements 
and various other municipal work, such as 
culverts, salt water fire protection, dredging 
of Lake Merritt, etc., has amounted to mil- 
lions of dollars. The immense amount of 
detail work, estimates and figuring have 
been done under the direct supervision of 
Mr. Turner, and he has handled the intri- 
cate problems of the department with rare 
judgment and with such ability as only 
long experience and careful training can 
produce. 



The City Engineer's office, during Mr. 
Turner's tenure of office, was in the midst 
of executing the work of constructing new 
wharves involving the expenditure of $1,- 
500,000. There were in force at that time 
ninety contracts for public work and during 
the past few years there have been an aver- 
age of from seventy-five to one hundred of 
such contracts in force at one time during 
the working season. As an important fac- 
tor and adviser in carrying forward a work 
of this magnitude, in conjunction with the 
performance of his duties as Police and 
Fire Commissioner, the public can readily 
appreciate the immense responsibilities of 
the office. 

Mr. Turner was nominated and elected 
to his present office as Commissioner of 
Public Health and Safety under the new 
charter and should do excellent work in his 
new office. 

Mr. Turner married Miss Elsie B. Lee of 
Oakland in January, 1898, and has two 
daughters. He numbers among his close 
friends many of Oakland's first citizens 
and is a member of the Beta Theta Pi, the 
college Greek letter fraternity. 

Personally Mr. Turner is conservative 
and retiring. H we were called upon for a 
criticism we might state that he is almost 
too modest about his public work. His 
life and his professional and political record 
will bear the closest scrutiny. 




348 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




BENJAMIN F. WOULNER 
City Attorney 

Ben F. Woollier 

City Attorney 




EN F. WOOLNER is a native 
of Suisun, where he was born 
in 1872. He came to this city 
in 1888 and graduated from 
the high school in 1890. Then 
followed the study of Blackstone and 
the other founders of his profession and 
subsequently his becoming a member of the 
firm with which he is now connected, the 
only co-partnership in which he has entered 
since his admission to the bar. 

He was recently appointed to the office 
of City Attorney, vice John W. Stetson, by 
Mayor Mott, which appointment has met 
with the approval of a large number of 
friends and acquaintances. 

With the engrossments of his office and 
court business, Mr. Woolner finds ample 
time for recreation and social work. He 
is a member of Oakland Commandery No. 



11, K. T. ; Aahmes Temple of the Mystic 
Shrine of this city; was the first president 
of the Athens Parlor N. S. G. W. ; Live 
Oak Lodge No. 61, F. and A. M., and one 
of the leading spirits among that coterie 
of live wires known as the Nile Club, of 
which latter organization he was a founder 
and of which also he has been high in the 
councils. 

Mr. Woolner has literary as well as legal 
and judicial qualifications, and this ability 
and versatility he has exhibited in the writ- 
ing of several historical and classically en- 
tertaining plays and sketches which have 
been produced in a most appreciated manner 
by the members of the club. A number of 
these have had special music composed for 
them and the presentation and their success 
are on the same plane with those weird 
productions under the auspices of the Bo- 
hemian Club, San Francisco. 



Edwin Meese 



349 




EDWIN MEESE 
Treasurer and Ex-Officio Tax Coi<lector 

Courtesy of 'Bushnell Photo 



Edwin Meese 

City Treasurer 




*■ ^ ?» ^HERE are few men in the mu- 
nicipal government of Oakland 
who are more deserving of 
the encomiums of his fellow 
officials and the respect and 
confidence of the public than Mr." Edwin 
Meese, the present City Treasurer. His 
work as a city official covers a period of 
twelve years or more, and he has been 
known as one of Oakland's public spirited 
and progressive citizens for the past thirty 
years. He has been a member and director 



of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce since 
its organization, and was a director of the 
old Board of Trade, before the existence of 
the present Chamber of Commerce. 

Mr. Meese was born in San Francisco, 
March 28, 1857. His father, Mr. Hermann 
Meese, was one of the early pioneers of 
California, coming to the coast in 1850, and 
in the early days was a carpenter, and 
later a contractor and builder. He also 
enjoys the distinction of being one of the 
first men to engage in the sugar business 



350 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



in the West, being one of the promoters 
of the Bay Sugar Refmery. The elder 
Meese is still a resident of Oakland, and 
although retired now, was actively engaged 
in business in this city for thirty years or 
more, and the City Treasui-er's brother, Mr. 
Adolph Meese, is an active and popular 
young business man of San Francisco, being 
secretary and manager of E. C. Hughes 
Company, of 151 Minna street, the printers 
of this volume. 

The present City Treasurer received his 
education in the public schools of San Fran- 
cisco and in the College of Fort Wayne, 
Indiana, and as he had decided on a busi- 
ness career, rounded out his education by 
taking a course at Heald's Business College, 
of which institution he is a graduate. 

After finishing his education, Mr. Meese 
accepted a position as Assistant Secretary 
of the Bay Sugar Refinery, and later went 
into the mercantile business in Sacramento, 
in which he was entirely successful. 

He took up his residence in Oakland in 
1879, and almost immediately began to take 
an active interest in public improvements 
and civic afifairs. About twelve years ago, 
in 1898, he accepted the nomination on the 
Republican ticket for City Councilman and 
was elected. Mr. Meese's work as Council- 
man was so satisfactory to the public that 
he was re-elected again and again. As 
Councilman Mr. Meese has always stood 
for progress and public betterments and has 
always been a strong advocate for the con- 
solidation of city and county ; as a member 
of the Street Committee he has done much 
toward the improvement of the public streets 
and highways. 

While a member of the Council, a va- 



cancy was created by the resignation of the 
City Treasurer and Mr. Meese was appoint- 
ed to fill the vacancy. His appointment was 
not one of political preferment, but because 
of his unquestioned integrity and proven 
ability. He has made an excellent Treasurer 
and his record has proved conclusively that 
he is a safe man to trust with public respon- 
sibilities. 

In the election of 1907 Mr. Meese re- 
ceived the Republican nomination for City 
Treasurer, being endorsed by all parties, and 
had no opponent. This is in itself a higher 
tribute to his popularity and efficiency than 
anything that can be said here. His election, 
of course, was a foregone conclusion. Under 
his supervision the large amount of detail 
work incident to the office is transacted with 
promptness and accuracy, because of the per- 
fect order and system that prevail therein. 

In the direct primary election of 1911 Mr. 
Meese was nominated directly by the people 
as Commissioner, under the new Charter, 
and it was a great surprise to learn that he 
had been defeated by a narrow margin after 
the subsequent election. He does not claim 
to be an astute "politician," but relies rather 
on his record for public support, and with 
all due respect to his able and likable young 
opponent, Mr. Harry Anderson, it was the 
greatest compliment to the latter that he 
succeeded in getting a majority at the polls. 

In politics, Mr. Meese is a staunch Re- 
publican and has been a worker for the 
success of the party at all times. He is a 
member of the Nile Club of Oakland, en- 
joys excellent social connections and during 
his long residence in this city has acquired 
and retained the good will and confidence 
of the community. 



George E. Gross 



351 



George E. Gross 

Auditor and Assessor 




MAX who is known through- 
out the city for his sterling 
worth, botli as a public official 
and a private citizen, is Mr. 
George E. Gross, x^uditor and 
Assessor for the City of Oakland. Mr. 
Gross was born in Oakland, March 14, 1872, 
and has practically lived here all his life. It 
is but natural that he should take particular 
pride in the clean government and commer- 
cial prosperity that the city of his birth en- 
joys at the present time. 

He attended the public schools of Oakland 
as a boy, and after completing his educa- 
tion, started his business career with his 
father, who was engaged in the marble and 
granite industry in this city. 

On May 1, 1901, he accepted an appoint- 
ment in the City Treasurer's office, as dep- 
uty. During his three years' service in this 
capacity he exhibited an unusual aptitude for 
the work and mastered the details of the 
office. It was solely because of his ability 
and fitness for the office that he was ap- 
pointed Chief Deputy Treasurer in 1904. 

When Chief Deputy Treasurer he accepted 
the nomination on the Republican ticket for 
City Auditor and Assessor, receiving the en- 
dorsement of the Democrats and Municipal 
League. He was, of course, elected by an 
overwhelming majority, as there was prac- 
tically no opposition. 

Mr. Gross assumed the duties of an active 
Assessor at the time of the Charter election. 

About two years ago the office was raised 
from being a position in which the County 
Auditor's figures were accepted as the basis 
of the city assessment rolls, to a department 
in which the entire work of the city was 
handled carefully and justly. 

The change was made by charter amend- 
ment, but the work of bringing the office up 
to the new standard has been undertaken 
carefully and slowly, new men being em- 
ployed from time to time as necessity re- 



quired. These are now employed on a per- 
manent basis instead of being appointed by 
a blanket ordinance from time to time for 
successive periods. 

The handling of the auditing and assessing 
by the city instead of accepting the county 
figures raised the assessed valuation for the 
city as a whole over $10,000,000 above what 
it would have been under the county figures, 
and resulted in a more equal distribution of 
the burden of taxation in the city. 

An ordinance was introduced and passed 
to print under suspension of the rules of 
the last council placing the Auditor's office 
on a permanent basis. The ordinance pro- 
vides for the following : 

The fixing of the salaries of first and sec- 
ond Deputy Auditors at $150 ; the appoint- 
ment by the Auditor of one additional dep- 
uty at a salary of $125 ; the fixing of the 
salary of the Deputy Assessor in charge of 
personal property at $175, and the appoint- 
ment of three additional Deputy Assessors. 

Auditor Gross is assisted by Deputy Audi- 
tors A. V. B. Davus and H. C. Hencken. W. 
H. Dwyer is also affected by the new ordi- 
nance. He is appointed permanently with 
the title of Deputy Assessor in charge of 
personal property. 

Mr. Gross proved his popularity in the 
direct primary election of 1911, when he was 
nominated by the people direct and elected 
by an overwhelming majority. At this elec- 
tion he had practically no opposition. 

Mr. Gross married Miss Ethel Gage of 
Oakland, September 3, 1901 ; his home and 
social life has been particularly pleasant, and 
during a life's residence in the city has made 
a wide circle of friends. He is a member 
of the Woodmen of the World and the 
Native Sons. 

In manner, Mr. Gross is frank, unassum- 
ing and companionable; he has made an 
efficient and courteous official and is in line 
for higher honors. 



352 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




J. W. NELSON 
Secretary Board of Pubi,ic Works 

Courtesy of Bushnell Photo 



J. W. Nelson 

Secretary Board of Public Works 




AMES WESLEY NELSON 
was born October 3, 1852, in 
Crisfield, Md., of A. Nelson 
and Mary C. Nelson. His 
father, A. Nelson, was a far- 
mer and a sailor, a native of England, and 
related to Thomas Nelson, Yorktown, Va., 
first governor of Virginia. 

J. W. Nelson received his education in 
Baltimore, Md., and his first business expe- 
rience was in the capacity of a salesman 
with Tillmann & Bendel of San Francisco; 
afterwards was general manager of the Oak- 



land Preserving Company, Oakland, for ten 
years, then operated an asparagus factory 
at Antioch, Cal. ; was president of Oakland 
City Council from 1892 to 1894 ; chairman 
of Republican conventions ; president of 
Oakland Exposition, and secretary of the 
Municipal League. Mr. Nelson was married 
in Oakland in 1878 to Lizzie Cook and is 
the father of three girls, Helen, Alice and 
Margaret. He has resided in Oakland since 
1878, is a member of the Masonic frater- 
nity and is secretary of the Board of Pub- 
lic Works at the present time. 



Geo. R. Babcock 



353 




GEO. R. BABCOCK 
Superintendent Electrical Dept. 

Courtesy of BushneU Photo 

George R. Babcock 

Superintendent of Electrical Department 




UPERINTENDEXT GEORGE 
R. BABCOCK, at the head of 
the Department of Electricity 
in the City of Oakland, de- 
serves the highest commenda- 
tion for the able manner in which he has 
conducted the work of the department. His 
duties require a thorough and technical 
knowledge of his profession, and he has 
acquired such knowledge both through close 
study and long practical experience. 

Mr. Babcock is a native son, born in 
Oakland on the 10th day of July, 1871, and 
received his early education in the Lincoln 
School of this city. 

In 1891, at the age of twenty, he entered 
the employ of the Thompson-Houston Elec- 



trical Company, at that time one of the 
leading electrical concerns in the countr}-. 
He remained with this company and its con- 
solidated interests until 1896, attending to 
street railway installations and other import- 
ant work. He then attached himself to the 
laboratory of the San Francisco Gas & Elec- 
tric Company, remaining with them for a 
period of two years, later joining the Stan- 
dard Electric Company and was engaged in 
the installation of their electrical lines and 
sub-station at Stockton, California. He re- 
mained with the latter company and its al- 
lied interests until his appointment to the 
office of Superintendent of the Electrical 
Department of Oakland. 

Since he has been in charge o^ the depart- 



354 



Greater Oakland. 1911 



ment, \vc liave seen vast improvements and 
an excellent system installed. Mr. Babcock 
has introduced a new and modern system 
to take the place of the antiquated gravity 
battery method formerly in vogue in the 
fire alarm equipment during his first year 
in office, and through improvements here 
and there has saved the city something like 
;$],000 per year ever since. In his consist- 
ent aim to run his department economically 
lie has introduced the manufacture of a 
large part of the equipment required in the 
department. In the city's electrical shops 
many instruments, such as automatic 
switches, gongs, relays, fire boxes, etc., 
which cannot be purchased in Oakland, are 
manufactured at the present time by the 
city under Mr. Babcock's supervision. Also 
some twenty-five or thirty miles of old iron 
wire was removed and new copper wire 
placed in its stead, again saving the city 
$3,000 or $4,000 per year in repairs and se- 
curing for the city much more efificient 
service. It was also under his direction 
that all of the municipal wires in the center 
of the city were placed underground. 

In accordance with his plans there has 
been constructed a modern fireproof build- 
ing at Thirteenth and Oak Streets, which, 
with the police and fire lines leading into 
it underground, makes the injury to service 
by earthquake practically impossible. The 
condition of the equipment immediately 
after the earthquake of 1906, and the useless 
condition of the San Francisco fire alarm 
system at that time, has caused Mr. Bab- 
cock to take every possible precaution to 
protect these important wires should a sim- 
ilar catastrophe occur in the future. The 



plans include, besides this building, the lay- 
ing of fifteen miles of underground cable 
which will mean, when completed, that the 
municipal wires for the main trunk line 
will be underground from Twenty-third 
Avenue on the east to Peralta Street on the 
west, and as far north as Fifty-sixth Street. 

He spent two months last year visiting 
modern plants in the large Eastern cities, 
and the present building in its equipment 
will be a compilation of the best and most 
up-to-date that could be found. In connec- 
tion with the cable there will be fire box 
pedestals erected of handsome design, the 
parts of which will be interchangeable. 
Equipment for testing gas for its heat and 
light giving units will be part of the new 
plant. There will also be established in the 
new structure colorimeter and photometer 
rooms for the further and more complete 
testing of the gas. 

Great credit is due Mr. Babcock for his 
painstaking efforts and the strict business 
principles he has followed in conducting his 
ofifice. He is constantly studying how he 
can improve his department in such ways 
as are consistent with economy. His broad 
experience in general electrical work before 
he assumed his present duties has been of 
highest value to him, and his uniform cour- 
tesy and attention to those with whom he 
comes in contact in business matters have 
made him popular with the citizens of Oak- 
land. 

Mr. Babcock is well known socially and 
married Miss Eleanor Olney in Oakland in 
October, 1903. He is a well-liked member 
of the Nile and other clubs in the city and 
in politics is an active Republican. 



Frank L. Thompson 



355 



Frank L. Thompson 



City Clerk 




HEN the interviewer called 
upon City Clerk Frank L. 
Thompson for the informa- 
tion necessary for this sketch, 
the task was somewhat simi- 
lar to the pulling of rivets out of a battle- 
ship. Mr. Thompson has really done some 
excellent work for the city during the past 
seven years, but he failed to see why any- 
thing concerning his career should interest 
the public. Indeed, he even went so far as 
to doubt the value of the entire work of the 
publishers in getting out this volume. After 
repeated calls, however, and by dint of 
close questioning, the reporter was enabled 
to get something that faintly resembled a 
biography. 

Mr. Thompson is a native of the Key- 
stone State, born in Danville, Pennsylvania, 
January 19, 1857. His father, S. B. Thomp- 
son, was one of the early settlers of Cali- 
fornia, coming to the Coast in 1859. He 
was a prominent Californian in the early 
days and was one of the framers of the 
Constitution of the State. 

City Clerk Thompson was introduced to 



California when but four years of age, so 
we need not quibble about the statement 
that he has lived in the State all his life, 
practically. As a boy he attended the pub- 
lic schools of San Francisco, and after 
finishing his education was engaged in 
building construction in San Francisco. 

Mr. Thompson assumed the duties of his 
present office in April, 1903. As City Clerk, 
and Clerk of the Board of Councilmen, his 
work has been of the most satisfactory sort. 
The duties of the office require perfect sys- 
tem, careful attention to detail, and absolute 
accuracy. He has more than sufficient ex- 
perience and ability to meet the requirements 
of the office. 

Mr. Thompson married Miss Mary J. 
Garness, a native daughter of San Francisco, 
on June 30, 1886. He has three children, a 
daughter attending the grammar school, a 
daughter in high school, and a son in the 
University of California. Mr. Thompson is 
Past Master of Live Oak Lodge, No. 61, of 
the Masonic Order. 



356 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




CALVIN ORR 
President Board of Education 



Calvin M. Orr 

President of the Board of Education 




HE energetic young President of 
the Board of Education, Mr. 
Calvin M. Orr, is decidedly the 
right man in the right place. 
Four years ago, in 1907, he was 
persuaded by his friends to accept the nomina- 
tion on the Republican ticket for School Di- 
rector, and was elected by a large majority, 
defeating the former President of the Board. 
He was re-elected for a second term, when he 
was nominated on five tickets — the Republi- 
can, Municipal League, Union Labor, Prohibi- 
tion, and Democratic. In the last Direct 



Primary election, he was nominated and sub- 
sequently elected as School Director, and has 
since been chosen President of the Board. 

Mr. Orr has made an ideal School Director, 
because he is deeply interested in educational 
matters, and has given considerable time to the 
study of advanced and progressive educational 
methods. He inaugurated the Keokuk School 
Savings System in the Oakland schools, by 
which the children are taught the valuable 
principles of thrift and economy. This is 
really a banking system for the school children, 
whereby, instead of an over-indulgence in 



Calvin M. Orr 



35T 



candy and sodas, it is suggested that they de- 
posit a portion of their spending money in a 
fund, which is deposited in a bank to their ac- 
count. The effect of this suggestion is ap- 
parent, when we find that there were 3,274 
accounts, and about $27,000 deposited during 
the term ending December 9th, 1910. The 
value of this innovation in creating the saving 
habit among children, and the business knowl- 
edge acquired through each child supervising 
his own bank account, makes this system a 
most important adjunct to public school 
education. 

Mr. Orr is strongly in favor of extending 
tlie Play Ground System, and giving the 
Play Ground Commission full control. He 
believes they should be properly equipped and 
supervised, holding that playgrounds without 
adequate supervision, looking to the safety and 
healthful enjoyment of children, are worse 
than no playgrounds at all. 

He also believes in increased school facil- 
ities, and more school buildings, particularly 
in a first class Polytechnic High School, lo- 
cated on large enough acreage, so that there 
will be no question of ample ground facilities 
in the future, thus keeping pace with Los An- 
geles and other Southern cities that are using 
from sixteen to forty acres for their Poly 
schools. 

Mr. Orr is a native of Iowa, born in Ottum- 
wa, on June 18, 1868, and received his edu- 
cation in the public schools of his native city. 
After completing his education he was asso- 



ciated for a number of years with John Mor- 
rell & Company, of Ottumwa. In 1897 he es- 
tablished the business of Orr & Breedlove, at 
1.375-77 Broadway, Oakland. One year be- 
fore the earthquake the firm moved to its 
present location at 651-53-55 Webster Street, 
which property has recently been purchased by 
them. The firm of Orr & Breedlove are Gen- 
eral Commission Merchants, their main ac- 
count being John Morrell & Company's Iowa 
hams, bacon, canned meats and lard. The 
concern also handle San Juan olive oil and 
olives, and Zoller's New York cheese. The 
business has been eminently successful, and 
the firm expects soon to erect a new building 
with larger accommodations. 

Mr. Orr's marriage to Miss Harriett Breed- 
love, the sister of his partner, occurred in 
Chillicothe, Mo., in 1889. He has one daugh- 
ter. Miss Irene L. Orr, a social favorite, and 
an accomplished young lady. She is a grad 
uate of the high school, and later attended 
Miss Gamble's finishing school at Santa Bar- 
bara. Mr. Orr's father. Dr. William L. Orr, 
was a distinguished man of his time, born in 
Washington, Pa., in 1823, and a graduate of 
Washington and Jefferson College, where he 
was a schoolmate and personal friend of 
James G. Blaine. During the Civil War he 
served as surgeon of the 21st Iowa Regiment. 
He was Mayor of Ottumwa before the War, 
and held public office after the War from 
1866 until 1897. His death occurred in 1907. 




358 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Miss Annie Florence Brown 

Member of the Board of Education 




ISS ANNIE FLORENCE 
BROWN, the newly elected 
School Director, is a decid- 
edly interesting young 
woman, not merely because 
she enjoys the distinction of being the only 
woman holding an elective office in Oak- 
land, but for the better reason that she is 
devoting her exceptional intelligence to 
something worth while. 

Miss Brown was born in Yokohama, 
Japan, in which city she spent her early 
childhood. As a girl she went through the 
Oakland grammar schools and High School, 
and later entered the University of Califor- 
nia, from which institution she graduated 
with the degree of Bachelor of Letters. 
For a time, she taught in the High School 
of this city. 

As an adjunct to a thorough practical and 
classical education, she has traveled broadly, 
having made two trips to Europe, visiting 
the principal cities as far east as Alexan- 
dria, Egypt, and has given close study to 
educational methods and social conditions. 
In addition to these unusual advantages, 
she has demonstrated that she can think as 
clearly and logically as any member of the 
board, in dealing with business matters 
coming before that body, and her sugges- 
tions have always been to the point. 

When asked by the interviewer as to just 
how she happened to be projected into 
politics, she stated that the women of Oak- 
land were very anxious to be represented 
on the Board of Education, by one of their 
own sex, who had an understanding of the 
educational needs of Oakland's rising gen- 
eration, and could spare the time that the 
responsibilities of the position demanded. 
Miss Brown consented to have her name 
placed on the ticket, and, without any 
speeches or electioneering on her part, was 
nominated by direct primary vote and sub- 
sequently elected by a handsome majority. 



Miss Brown believes that the classical 
education of pupils should by no means be 
neglected, but thinks that, in conjunction 
with this, their education should include a 
training of a practical sort to meet the re- 
quirements of our present social conditions 
and of real help in the work of today. She 
believes in equal suffrage, because it will 
help to develop the highest qualities in 
women and will mean a great deal toward 
bringing about "clean" politics. She is 
thoroughly feminine, and there is not the 
slightest trace of the "new woman" about 
her; she looks upon the world as one big 
family, and holds that women should do 
their share with men, working side by side 
with them, and have the same voice in 
deciding the broader civic questions con- 
fronting the commonwealth as the mothers 
should in deciding family problems. 

Miss Brown finds little time for "Society" 
in the narrow sense of the term, but has 
been active in philanthropic work. She is 
an officer of the Alameda County Society 
for the Study and Prevention of Tubercu- 
losis and a member of the Home Club and 
Collegiate Alumnae. She has also given 
talks to the children on several occasions 
on the interesting things she has seen in 
Europe and foreign lands. Her mother, 
Mrs. Matilda Brown, has become well 
known through her charitable work, and is 
president of King's Daughters' Home for 
Incurables. She is a sister of Everett J. 
Brown, Judge of the Superior Court of 
Alameda County. 

The editors apologize for the absence of 
Miss Brown's portrait in connection with 
this article, as we believe it would be as 
welcome to the reader as an "oasis in a 
desert," but she remained deaf to all the 
arguments of the interviewer on this point 
and insisted that we would have to get 
along without it, hence we resort to the 
Latin phrase, "Caetero desunt." 



Frank B. Cook 



359 



Frank B. Cook 

Member of the Board of Education 




WIDELY known and respected 
man, who has been identified 
with public life in Oakland 
for some years, is Mr. Frank 
B. Cook, a member of the 
present Board of Education. 

Mr. Cook is of English descent, born in 
Nova Scotia on May 6, 1864. He has an 
excellent education, having attended the 
public schools and the University of Acadia 
in his native city. While a student at the 
universit}', like the rest of its five hundred 




F. B. COOK 
Member Board of Education 

students, he became acquainted with most 
of the two hundred young ladies of Acadia 
Seminary; ere long he claimed the charm- 
ing, accomplished and most lovable Miss 
Annie Maude Thomas in marriage, in the 
year 1888, and his subsequent home and 
social life has been all that could be de- 
sired. Their son, Frank B. Cook, Jr., at- 
tends the University of California, and their 



daughter, Madeline Thomas Cook, the 
Franklin Grammar School. 

As a young man, Mr. Cook was associ- 
ated with his father in the general merchan- 
dise business. Believing that the West of- 
fered a broader field and better opportuni- 
ties for success, he came to California, 
working for a time with E. C. Peart, and 
it was not long before he acquired an inter- 
est in the business. He was a partner in 
the firm of Peart, McLean & Company, of 
Colusa, for three years, and then sold his 
interest at a good figure. 

Eighteen years ago he began business in 
Oakland, and has been successful from the 
start. Mr. Cook has always taken an active 
interest in public afifairs, particularly in 
matters pertaining to education. He was 
one of the members of the first Fremont 
High School Board, and it was largely 
through his influence that the system of 
selecting teachers through political patron- 
age has been done away with. He believes 
in the best schools and the best teachers 
for the rising generation in Oakland, and 
further believes that good salaries should be 
paid in order to secure the best talent and 
ability available. 

Mr. Cook's work has been so satisfactory 
as a School Director that he was nominated 
by direct primary vote and subsequently 
elected by a large majority, in May, 1911. 
In the present Board, he acts as chairman 
of the Committee on Grounds. Buildings 
and Equipment, and is a member of the 
Committee on High Schools, and of the 
Finance and Revenue Committee. 

Mr. Cook may feel a just pride in his 
ancestry. His father, Thomas Cook, was 
United States Consul to Nova Scotia for 
about thirty-five years, and Francis Cook, 
from whom he is a direct lineal descendant, 
came to America on the "Mayflower" and 
was a prominent figure in the early history 
of Massachusetts. 

He has a wide circle of friends in Ala- 
meda County and is well known in fraternal 
circles, being a member of the Masons, 
Woodmen. Oddfellows, Moose and several 
other fraternities and clubs. 



360 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




DR. A. S. KELLY 
Member Board of Education 



Alexander Simpson Kelly 

Member of the Board of Education 




O C T O R ALEXANDER S. 
KELLY, one of the members 
of the Board of Education 
of Oakland, has made a really 
remarkable showing for his 
years; though barely out of his twenties, 
he has won for himself a high place in his 
chosen profession, and has become an im- 
portant factor in the government of the 
city. 

Dr. Kelly is a native of Canada, born in 
the Province of Ontario, on January 15, 
1879. He came to California when a boy 



of fourteen and lived in Yolo County for 
several years. Coming to Oakland in 1896, 
he entered the high school here and gradu- 
ated with honors. Early in his career he 
decided to take up the medical profession 
as his particular field of usefulness and en- 
tered the Cooper Medical Institute, of San 
Francisco. His natural aptitude for his 
chosen profession and his deep interest in 
his studies enabled him to pass a creditable 
examination for his physician's certificate. 
Since taking up his practice in Oakland, he 
has built up a lucrative business and enjoys 



Alexander Simpson Kelly 



361 



the confidence and patronage of many of the 
first citizens of the city. He is a member 
of the County Medical Association, of which 
he is president, the California Medical Asso- 
ciation, and the American Medical Associa- 
tion. He is assistant professor in the Oak- 
land Medical College in the Department of 
Surgery. He also has been a member of 
the medical staff of St. Luke's Hospital, 
.San Francisco, and of the Alameda County 
Hospital. 

In April, 1907, he accepted the nomina- 
tion on the Republican ticket for member 
■of the Board of Education of the City of 
Oakland, from the first ward, and was 
elected by a handsome majority. He has 
been an active and conscientious worker in 
the department of education. He was largely 
instrumental in introducing the regular med- 
ical inspection in the public schools by 
having a competent physician devote his 
entire time to the hygienic welfare of the 
school children. It is now the duty of this 
physician to examine not only the general 
sanitary condition of the schools, but to 
give particular attention to sickly or back- 
ward children and give them every assist- 
ance in the power of modern medical 
science. 

He has also taken a strong stand against 
secret societies and clubs in the high 
schools, which have been a menace to the 
-democracy and equality of the schools, 
which are the very foundation of American 
educational institutions. 

In the direct primary election of 1911, 
Mr. Kelly was again nominated and elected 



School Director. He is a member of the 
Grounds, Buildings and Equipment Com- 
mittee on the present Board, a member of 
the Elementary Schools Committee, and 
chairman of the High Schools Committee. 

Dr. Kelly comes from English and 
Scotch parentage, his father, Mr. A. W. 
Kelly, having been born in England, im- 
migrated to America, and was a prominent 
citizen of Yolo County, where he conducted 
a large general mercantile business for six- 
teen years. His mother was a native of 
Scotland. 

The success that has come to Dr. Kelly 
is entirely due to his own individual efforts. 
It was only through tenacity of purpose, 
self-denial, and close application that he 
has won his present position. When he 
arrived in Oakland in 1896, his only capital 
was good health, energy, and an ambition 
to amount to something in the world. At 
times he worked for his board, and took 
any odd job he could get on Saturdays and 
holidays to assist him in securing his edu- 
cation. He supported himself during the 
entire time he was attending high school, 
and earned his way through medical college. 
He has a pleasing personality, a sympa- 
thetic nature, and altogether is a likable 
young man. His equipment seems to be 
complete for a brilliant future career. 

Dr. Kelly has a broad acquaintance 
throughout the city and is a member of the 
Elks, the Nile Club and the University 
Club; he has passed through all the Ma- 
sonic degrees and is a Shriner. 




362 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Harry L. Boyle 

Member Board of Education 




ARRY L. BOYLE, who received 
the nomination by direct pri- 
mary vote for School Director, 
' and was subsequently elected 
by a goodly majority, in the 
summer of 1911, has taken an active interest 
in educational matters for a good many years 
past. At this election, he ran second highest 
on the ticket. 

In 1906 he was School Director of one of 
the outlying districts, serving four years in 
all, until he was legislated out at the time 
the district was annexed to the City of Oak- 
land. 

As a director of schools he strongly sup- 
ported and encouraged the organization of 
the brass band in the Lockwood School, 
which has the distinction of being the only 
school in the county having its own band, 
and a good one at that. He believes that 
the Oakland schools should have the best 
teachers that can be secured, and political 
patronage should have no place or bearing on 
the selection of teachers, but that ability and 
fitness for the position should be the im- 
portant considerations. 

He also believes the school house should 
be made the civic and social center of the 
district in which it is located, where debates, 
literary clubs, and organizations for civic im- 
provements, etc., may meet and discuss mat- 
ters of educational and public interest. Mr. 
Boyle sees great opportunities in the intro- 
duction of moving pictures in the schools as 



an aid to education, and there is no doubt 
that pupils can learn more in fifteen min- 
utes about iron rolling, the fishing industry, 
or, in fact, any of the industries and sci- 
ences, than they can learn in a much longer 
time in the study of a dry printed treatise 
on the subject. He believes school buildings 
should be limited to one story in height, 
wherever practicable, as they may be kept 
in a better sanitary condition, are safer in 
case of fire or other unlooked-for calamities, 
and more convenient and accessible in every 
way. 

Mr. Boyle is a native of Washington, born 
in Walla Walla on May 23rd, 1870. He re- 
ceived a practical education in the Oakland 
public schools, and started his career in the 
business of manufacturing sanitary appli- 
ances. For the last fifteen years he has been 
with the Oakland Traction Company and Key 
Route as timekeeper. His marriage to Miss 
Maude E. Gooby took place in Oakland on 
September 28th, 1894. They have four chil- 
dren — Miss Alma, fifteen years of age; Les- 
ter, thirteen ; Harry, ifive, and little Jack, 
eleven months. Mr. Boyle is a brother-in- 
law of Barney Oldfield, the celebrated auto- 
mobile racer. 

On the present Board of Education he 
acts as Chairman of the Committee on Rules 
and Regulations, and is member of the Ele- 
mentary School Committee and Finance and 
Revenue Committee. 



J. W. McClymonds 



363 




J. W. McCLYMONDS 
Secretary Board of Education and Superintend- 
ent City Schools 



J. W. McClymonds 

City Superintendent of Schools 




F we are to believe the old 
maxim that "experience is the 
best teacher," then assuredly 
Mr. J. W. McClymonds, City 

Superintendent of Schools, 

should know his profession, for he has been 
engaged prominently as an educator and 
teacher continuously for the past forty odd 

years. 

Mr. McClymonds is a native of the Key- 
stone State, born in Portersville, Pennsyl- 



vania, on December 28th, 1848. After a prac- 
tical education in the public schools of 
Pennsylvania he entered Westminster College, 
of which he is a graduate. He came West 
in 1871, and save for a year and a half spent 
in Kansas, has lived in California _ ever since. 
In 1873 he accepted an appointment as 
teacher in one of the county schools in 
Sonoma Countv. He then took a position 
as Principal of the Healdsburg Grammar 
School; following this, was Principal in the 



364 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Petaluma High f^chool for three years ; Prin- 
cipal of the San Leandro School for six 
years ; Principal of the Lincoln School of 
Oakland for three years, and as a fitting and 
just climax to his useful career as an edu- 
cator, was elected Superintendent of the City 
Schools of Oakland in 1888. 

Mr. McClymonds is progressive in his 
ideas. Wonderful changes have come to pass, 
not only in relation to the remarkable 
growth of the city and increased importance 
of his office, since his installation twenty-two 
years ago, but also in the matter of im- 
proved methods and plan of procedure, in 
"Teaching the young idea how to shoot." 
Mr. McClymonds has kept pace with the 
times, and has always been willing to give 
up an old idea for a new one, when given 
adequate proof that a real benefit is derived 
by the change. 

When pressed by the interviewer for a 
few words on the general subject of educa- 
tion, he said : "I have seen many changes 
in the methods pursued along educational 
lines since entering upon my life's work ; 
time was when little attention was given to 
the individuality of the student, but today 
the characteristics and peculiarities of the 
child are studied carefully. The teacher is 
as much concerned as to how a pupil lives 
and how he acts, as to how well he pro- 



gresses in his studies. More attention is 
given to his moral and physical education. 
We now have physical examiners in the 
schools, and it is a part of the work of the 
department of education to watch for any 
physical defects in a child and remedy them, 
if possible. The State's right in the child 
(luring certain hours of the day is now 
recognized as superior to the parent's right ; 
in other words, compulsory education, the 
juvenile court and all similar measures guar- 
antee the child's rights in its relation to the 
State, as against the rights of incompetent 
parents." 

The responsibilities of Mr. McClymond's 
office in the supervision of educating and 
training the minds, and looking after the 
physical welfare of the rising generation who 
will soon take the reins of the city's gov- 
ernment and the commercial interests of the 
commonwealth in hand, are by no means 
small or insignificant. The city is fortunate 
in having at the head of this department a 
man of broad and progressive ideas, who 
has most efficiently performed the duties im- 
posed upon him. 

Mr. McClymond's marriage to Miss Vir- 
ginia M. Smith took place in San Francisco 
in 1873. He has one married daughter, Mrs. 
W. Kinsell, and one son, Mr. Vance A. Mc- 
Clymonds, one of Oakland's rising young 
lawyers. 




Robert B. S. York 



365 




R. B. S. YORK 

AssT. Sec. Board of Education and Deputy 

SuPT. OF Schools 



Robert B. S. York 

Deputy Superintendent of City Schools 




R. ROBERT B. S. YORK, the 
present Deputj^ City Superin- 
tendent of City Schools, is a 
native of Indianapohs, Indiana. 
As a boy he worked on a farm 
near the city of his birth, and received his 
education in the pubHc schools, concluding 
his course in Purdy's College, of Indianapolis. 
Mr. York began to take an active interest 
in public affairs almost as soon as he was 
able to vote. At the age of twenty-one he 
received the appointment of Deputy Sheriff 



of Marion County, Indiana, and continued in 
office three years, when he resigned to accept 
an appointment as Clerk of the Criminal 
Court in that county, serving for two years. 

While still in his early twenties, having a 
strong desire to see the new Western 
country, and believing in its greater oppor- 
tunities, he decided to make his future home 
in California, arriving here in 1875. 

Mr. York has a varied and broad business 
experience that has proven valuable to him 
as a public official. He was first engaged in 



366 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



the wholesale butcher business, being asso- 
ciated with H. M. Ames & Company, and 
was connected with this concern for six 
years. Subsequent to this he accepted an 
appointment in the County Recorder's office 
under Recorder F. D. Hines, remaining there 
six years. Then he became Passenger Agent 
for the Wabash Rail\va.v, occupying the office 
two years. He resigned this position to take 
a business trip to Eastern cities. Returning 
to Oakland in 1891, he became engaged in 
business as an expert accountant. 

Mr. York received his present appointment 
as Deputy City Superintendent of Schools in 
1895. As an important factor in the depart- 
ment of education for many years he lias 
witnessed its steady growth to its present 
magnitude. When he entered the office there 
were but one hundred and ninty-one teachers 
and principals, and an average daily attend- 
ance of seven thousand five hundred and 
ninety-four. At the present time there are 
five hundred and thirty-nine teachers and 
principals, and approximately fifteen thousand 
pupils. The Franklin, Lincoln. Prescotn 
Grant, Campbell, Longfellow and Wasliington 
Schools have all been built since he went 
into office. 

Mr. York's duties in his present office re- 
quire a man who is a thorough organizer and 



systematizer, and tlie city is fortunate in se- 
curing and retaining the services of a man 
of his caliber in that office. His long busi- 
ness experience wherein system, accuracy, and 
a grasp of detail have .been of paramount 
importance, has enabled him to handle the 
greatly increased business of his office with- 
out confusion and in a most praiseworthy 
manner. 

Mr. York married Miss Sarah A. Collier 
in Indianapolis in 1871. While in most re- 
spects his home life has been a happy one, 
it has not been free from tragedy and sor- 
row. His younger son, Harold, met with a 
fatal accident three years ago at the age of 
twenty-five, and his wife's death occurred 
in this city in August, 1900. He has two 
daughters— Mrs. B. M. Drake and Miss 
Pauline A. York— both popular in social cir- 
cles, and two remaining sons— B. L. York, 
now manager of Idora Park, and Ralph 
E. York, in the City Assessor's office. 

Mr. York's home has been in Oakland 
much of the time for the last thirty-five 
years, and during that period he has gathered 
around him many staunch friends. He is a 
Mason, Mystic Tie, No. 398, Indianapolis, 
and a member of the Oakland Lodge of Elks, 
No. 17L 




Samuel Augustus Wentworth 



367 




SAMUEL AUGUSTUS WENTWORTH 

Ex-Member of Board of Education and Deputy 

County Auditor 

Cottriesy of A>-ro7Vsmilh Photo 



Samuel Augustus Wentworth 

Deputy County Auditor and Ex- Member Board of Education 




R. SAMUEL A. WENT- 
WORTH, who has been prom- 
inentl}^ identified with both the 
city and count}' government for 
some years past, enjoys a 
broad experience in both the political and 
business world. 

He is a native of San Francisco, born on 
March 22nd, 1860, and received a good prac- 
tical education in the public schools of that 
city, supplemented by a business course at 
Heald's Business College. After completing 
his education he was for a time associated 
with the well-known law firm of Estee & 



Boalt. of San Francisco, as clerk. As an 
adjunct to his practical education he had 
learned the art of telegraphy, and as a young 
man secured a position as night operator 
with the Southern Pacific Railway Company. 
His promotions from agent to train dis- 
patcher and train master are the best proofs 
of his success as a railroad man. He left 
the railway service for two years, during 
which time he worked with Judge Coffey in 
the Probate Court ; in the Tax Collector's 
office, under Mr. Wadham, and in the Re- 
corder's office, under Alexander Russell. 
After this he again became associated with 



368 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



the railroad company, starting in as operator 
and working up to the position of train 
master in charge at Richmond, when he was 
again obliged to give up his work, as a re- 
sult of what is commonly known as "Teleg- 
rapher's Paralysis." 

On April 1st, 1909, he was elected on the 
Republican ticket as member of the Board 
of Education, and in this capacity did excel- 
lent work. His particular "hobby" as a 
member of the School Board was the in- 
troduction of Manual Training and Domestic 
Science as the most important equipment in 
education, to meet the practical needs of to- 
day. He believes that the polytechnic and 
manual training schools should be com- 
pletely equipped with the best and latest 
tools and machinery, so that pupils may get 
accustomed to their use and application, and 
go forth to their work with a thorough prac- 
tical knowledge of the trade or profession in 
which they expect to become engaged. He 
considers the Oakland schools have made 
rapid advances along practical lines during 
the last few years. He also believes that 
more open air schools can be introduced to 
advantage in Oakland. There is no doubt 
that the physical condition of many pupils 



would be greatly improved were they al- 
lowed to live a greater portion of their time 
in the fresh air, and Mr. Wentworth refers 
to Dr. Foster's report containing facts and 
figures, proving conclusively that the open air 
plan is a decided success. In the selection 
of teachers, Mr. Wentworth thinks Oakland 
is entitled to the best talent in the country, 
and as a member of the Board, strongly 
recommends employing teachers of unques- 
tioned ability, and paying adequate salaries 
for their services. He is also in favor of 
enlarged school grounds, equipped for the 
healthful enjoyment and exercise of the 
children. 

On January 1, 1911, Mr. Wentworth was 
appointed by Mr. Garrison as Deputy 
Auditor of Alameda County, and his broad 
business experience has proven of great 
value to him in systematizing his work in 
that office. 

Mr. Wentworth is Dictator of Moose 
Lodge, No. 324, member of Sequoia Lodge, 
No. 349, Masons and several clubs. His 
marriage to Miss Katherine Comfort oc- 
curred in San Francisco in 1898. There is 
one son, Samuel Rice, aged 20, and three 
daughters. Garland Winfield 18, Florence 15 
and Ruth 11. 




Charles S. Warner 



369 



Charles S. Warner 

Street Department 



has 



R. CHARLES S. WARNER 
was appointed to tlie office of 
Superintendent of Streets by 
the Board of Public Works on 
the sixth of April, 1910. He 
liad consideralilc experience in public 




work, liaving been a deputy in the Assessor's 




office, and was foreman under Mr. Charles F. 
Ott in various street improvements through- 
out the city. 



Mr. Warner is a native son, born in 
Sweetland, Nevada County, California, on 
the 26th day of September, 1864. After re- 
ceiving a practical education in the public 
schools of Nevada County and later in San 
Francisco, he found work of various kinds 
and made good in every position he has 
occupied. About ten years ago he became 
interested in the Boesch Lamp Company of 
San Francisco, and has since acquired some 
promising mining interests in this State. 

His father was one of the early pioneers 
of California, coming to the coast in 1850, 
and was one of the founders of the town 
of Wisconsin Hill, in Nevada County. Mr. 
Warner married a popular Oakland girl, 
Miss Etta C. Howland, in this city, on June 
11, 1890. He has four children, one son 
with Goldberg, Bowen & Company and three 
daughters, two in the Oakland grammar 
schools, and the eldest attending the Hop- 
kins Art Institute. 

Mr. Warner has a natural ability for en- 
gineering work, and has given considerable 
study to the various methods employed in 
other cities in keeping the streets and pub- 
lic highways in a clean and sanitary condi- 
tion. As foreman of the actual work done 
on the public streets, he has had unusual 
opportunities to get in close touch with the 
needs of the municipality in his department,, 
and it may be said that he knows his busi- 
ness from the ground up. 

Mr. Warner expects to keep his depart- 
ment up to a high standard while he is in 
office and may be counted upon to work 
hard in the support of any measure for the 
betterment of Oakland's streets. 



370 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




MATTHEW R. BRONNER 
Membhr Board of Education 

Courtesy of S/civaii Photo 



Matthew R. Bronner 

Member Board of Education 




CLEAN-CUT and energetic 
young man, and one who 
will no doubt gain a more 
prominent place in the city's 
government, is Councilman 
Matthew R. Bronner. He has been in pub- 
lic ofhcc l)Ut two or three years, but his 
activity and natural ability, coupled with a 
sincerity of purpose, have enabled him to 
establish a record that has attracted public 
attention. 



Mr. Bronner is not a politician, but was 
persuaded to accept a place in the City 
Council when a vacancy occurred at the 
time City Treasurer Aleese resigned to take 
his present office. He was projected into 
politics, because he was known as a man 
who had always been a conscientious 
worker for the city's best interests and 
seemed to be the right man for the place. 
His good work for the first year he was in 
office insured his re-election in 1909. 



Matthew R. Bronner 



371 



Mr. Bronner was born in Sacramento, 
California, January 3, 1873. He married 
Miss Mary E. Finn on January 4, 1898, in 
Oakland, a daughter of M. E. Finn, a well- 
remembered pioneer of Amador County. 
Mr. Bronner's father was also one of the 
earl}' pioneers, who came to California by 
way of the Isthmus when but a lad of 
fifteen. He was prominent in Sacramento 
in the early days, took an active interest in 
public aflfairs and was public administrator 
of Sacramento for fourteen years. His 
death occurred in 1894. 

Mr. Bronner received his education in the 
public schools of Sacramento and in the 
Sacramento Institute, graduating from the 
latter in June, 1889. He has a natural apti- 
tude for business and has held several im- 
portant positions. He was manager of the 
James A. Joyce Company for ten 3'ears and 
resigned when offered the position as ac- 
countant in the Central Bank of Oakland, 
on March 8, 1907; it was not long before 
he was promoted to the office of assistant 
cashier, his present position in the bank. 

In the old Citv Council he was chairman 



of the Fire and Water Committee; he has 
been an active worker for good streets and 
good sidewalks. He has been a strong ad- 
vocate for improvements in the western 
water front and the preservation of all Oak- 
land's water rights. He is a strong sup- 
porter of the plan to consolidate the city 
and county government, and believes Oak- 
land should have a new charter in keeping 
with its rapid progress. 

In the spring of 1911, he was nominated 
by direct primary vote and subsequently 
elected as School Director, which office he 
now occupies. He is chairman of the 
Finance and Revenue Committee and a 
member of the Grounds, Buildings and 
Equipment and Rules and Regulations Com- 
mittees. 

Mr. Bronner has two children, Evelyn, 
age, 10, attending the public schools, and 
Alice, aged 4. 

He has always had strong Republican 
ideas and is a worker for the success of his 
party. He is a member of the Knights of 
Columbus, Woodmen of the World, and 
past president of the Young Men's Institute. 




>/Rg*f AllABWBrts^ 




372 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Perry F. Brown 

Superintendent of Streets and Ex-Officio City Engineer 



N appointment that seemed to 
please everyone was that of Mr. 
Perry F. Brown to the office 
of Superintendent of Streets 
and City Engineer by the City 
Council under the new Charter, and no man 
could have been chosen who is in a better 





position to take care of the responsibilities 
of the office than Mr. Brown. 

He is a native of Wisconsin, born in 
Janesville, on June 10, 1875, and enjoys an 
excellent education received in the public 
schools of his native city and the University 
of Wisconsin, from which institution he 
graduated in 1897, having taken the Civil 
Engineering course. He was City Engineer 



of Janesville for several years and was after- 
wards in charge of work of considerable 
magnitude at Bear River Dam, for the Stand- 
ard Electric Company of California. 

He came to Oakland in 1901 and shortly 
afterwards accepted an appointment in the 
City Engineer's office, under Mr. Turner, 
acting as Assistant City Engineer for nine 
years, from 1902 till 1911. Through his long 
association with the City Engineer's office, 
and his thorough knowledge of the plans 
and work under way, he is eminently fitted 
to meet the requirements of his present 
office. He has always done a large share 
of the detail work in the City Engineer's 
office, particularly in designing the fire plant, 
mains, sewers and water front improvements, 
as well as general street improvements. 

He is broadly known and stands high in 
his profession, enjoying the distinction of be- 
ing one of a very few members of the 
American Society of Civil Engineers in Oak- 
land. While he has always been known as 
a hard worker, he has been particularly busy 
since assuming the duties of his present of- 
fice in reorganizing and systematizing his de- 
partment to meet the requirements of the 
city's new Charter. 

Personally, Mr. Brown is quiet and unas- 
suming, and had very little to say about his 
work for publication, and no doubt holds 
that "actions speak louder than words". 
There can lie no doubt, however, that lie is 
exceptionally well equipped to carry out the 
big plans of the administration in his present 
office. He has made it a point to keep en- 
tirely free from private business enterprises, 
and gives his entire time to his work for the 
city. 

Mr. Brown's marriage to Miss Beulah 
Hodgdon of Janesville, Wisconsin, occurred 
in that city in 1898. They have one daugh- 
ter, Marian, a child of nine. 



Dr. James Burris Wood 



373 



Dr. James Burris Wood 

Ex- Member Board of Education 




GENTLEMAN who has devoted 
a great deal of his time to the 
civic welfare of his adopted 
city, and who occupies an ex- 
alted place in the medical pro- 
fession, is Dr. James Burris Wood, who was 
a member of the Board of Education up to 
the time the new charter went into effect, and 
before that was a member of the Board of 
Health. 




DR. J. B. WOOD 
Ex-Member Boarp of Education 

Dr. Wood is a native of the Keystone 
State, born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on 
June 1'Mh, 1868. He received his education 
in the public schools of Western Pennsyl- 
vania, and later graduated from the Univer- 
sity of Michigan with the degree of B. S. 
After selecting the medical profession as his 
field of usefulness, he entered the Western 



University of Pennsylvania, taking a medical 
course, receiving his degree in 1892. 

He came to Oakland in the spring of '96, 
and has lived here continuously ever since. 
He has given some very interesting lectures 
on chemistry in the Oakland College of Med- 
icine, and as a citizen of Oakland has always 
been willing to give his time and professional 
advice in matters relating to the public wel- 
fare. 

In 1899 he was appointed a member of the 
Board of Health by Mayor Snow, and served 
two years. In 1905 he was nominated as 
member of the Board of Education, and was 
elected by a big majority. As a member of 
the Board of Education he did a great deal 
to increase the importance of the Manual 
Training and Domestic Science Department 
of public school education, and was an active 
member of the committee governing this 
liranch of education for six years. He was 
also a member of the High Schools Commit- 
tee and the Committee on Buildings and 
Sites. 

Dr. Wood's marriage to Miss Uriel Petti- 
grew, a daughter of William J. Pettigrew, a 
well-known man in the paper business of 
San Francisco, occurred in Oakland on June 
22nd, 1898. They have three boys, James 
Locke, aged three; Warren Geddy, eight, and 
Burris Gildersleeve, eleven, the older boys 
attending the Bay Grammar School. Dr. 
Wood's sister is the wife of Rev. Charles 
Edward Locke, D. D., of Los Angeles, and 
his father. Captain John A. Wood, was one 
of the pioneer steamboat men on the Ohio 
and Mississippi Rivers. The captain was a 
recognized authority on river navigation, and 
was a well-known figure among men engaged 
in river transportation business, and an inti- 
mate friend of Captain Jas. B. Eads, of 
Mississippi River jetties fame. 
■ Dr. Wood is a member of the Woodmen 
of the World, Independent Order of Forest- 
ers, and member of Sequoia Lodge, No. 349, 
F. & A. M. He is also member of the "Nu 
Sigma Nu" (medical), and "Phi Gamma 
Delta," Greek letter fraternities. 



374 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Leo. R. Weil 

Ex-Member Board of Education 



EU. R. WEIL is a native Cali- 
fornian, born in July, 1873, 
in San Francisco. His father, 
now a prominent music 
teacher in that city, was, 
during the civil war, an officer in a New 





LEO. R. WEIL 
Ex-Member of the Board of Education 

Courtesy of Bushnell Photo 

York regiment. Since then, however, he 
has devoted his attention to the study and 
teaching of music. He has written many 



songs and operas and will be rememl^ered 
as at one time stage director for the 
famous "Bostonians." 

The son, Leo. R. Weil, was a student 
of music from the time he was five years 
of age up to his eighteenth j-ear, and then 
gained a practical business knowledge of 
the music game in the store of F. R. Gir- 
ard, piano dealer in Oakland. 

He entered the Union Savings Bank in 
October. 1892, as office boy and collector, 
served in every department of the bank 
and during the latter period acted as loan 
teller. He left the bank in September, 
1906, and engaged in the real estate and 
insurance business with Joseph H. Norris, 
with offices in the Bacon Building. He 
dissolved partnership with Norris in March, 
1908, engaged in the same business alone 
until September, 1909, and then joined the 
firm of R. D. Hunter & Co., with offices 
in the Delger Building, as full partner. 
Their principal business is insurance, loans 
and notary work. The firm represents the 
Pennsylvania, North America, Commercial 
Union and American Bonding companies. 

Since being on the Board of Education 
Mr. Weil has taken great interest in music 
in the schools. He came to Oakland in 
1887, and owns property in Linda Vista 
terrace. He has always been interested in 
public affairs, but never in politics until 
elected School Director. Mr. Weil was 
secretary of the Oakland Board of Fire 
Underwriters during 1908, and served on 
the Executive Committee in 1907. He is 
a married man and has one child, a 
daughter. 



Walter Griswold Manuel 



375 




WALTER GRISWOLD MANUEL 

President Park Commission 



Walter Griswold Manuel 

President Park Commission 




GENTLEAIAN of unusual at- 
tainments who has given his 
time and best efforts in be- 
half of the commonwealth 
for a good many years past, 
is Walter Griswold Manuel, the present 
President of the Board of Park Commis- 
sioners. 

Mr. Manuel is a native son, born in 
Napa, California, June 18, 1865. His father, 
George W. Manuel, was one of the early 
pioneers of California, coming to the Coast 
from Vermont in 1854. The elder Manuel 
was a manufacturer of agricultural imple- 



ments, and although retired from active 
business when he came to Oakland, was 
prominent in the early days. 

Mr. Manuel went to the public schools 
of Oakland as a boy and after graduating 
from High School took a course in com- 
mercial law and higher mathematics in 
San Francisco, under private tuition, and 
later attended Heald's Business College. 

After completing a well rounded out edu- 
cation, he was particularly well equipped 
for a business career, and it was at this 
time he established his present commission 
business, located at 334 Eleventh Street, 



376 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



which has continued to prosier under his 
able management for twenty-six years, 
without a single interruption until the pres- 
ent time. 

In 1893 he accepted the nomination on 
the Republican ticket for Councilman, and 
was elected. He did excellent work dur- 
ing his first term, and was re-elected for 
another term in 1895. It was under his 
direction that the old Contra Costa Water 
properties were inventoried and he ren- 
dered valuable service to the administra- 
tion and to the community in general in 
the matter of appraising the value of the 
property as a basis for fixing water rates. 
As Councilman he was also a factor in 
curtailing the then firm grip the Southern 
Pacific had on the city, and in securing 
open streets to tidewater and clearing the 
title to the city water front. The feeling 
against the Southern Pacific ran pretty 
higli at this time during the water front 
scandal, and it was largely through ]Mr. 
Manuel's individual efiforts that the city 
won its signal victory. 

Mr. Manuel was appointed President of 
the Park Commission on May 19, 1909. 



He has always been a worker for a better 
system of parks, or any movement toward 
beautifying the city, but he is too much 
of a good business man to be unnecessar- 
ily extravagant in his ideas in this respect. 

Personal!}', Mr. Manuel is the typical 
American man of business. He is concise 
and energetic in his conversation, quick to 
grasjj the point of an argument, wastes 
no time in mere words, and transacts his 
business with vim and dispatch. He is a 
Shriner, being Past Master of Live Oak 
Lodge, No. ()1; a member of the Nile 
Club, and a Director of both the Central 
Bank of Oakland and the Central National 
Bank. 

His marriage to Miss Emelie V. Meyer, 
the daughter cf one cf California's earli- 
est pioneers, took place in Oakland in 
1885. Mr. ALyer came to California in 
1848, and \vas a member of the Society of 
California Pioneers. Mr. Manuel has two 
childrcr., Leslie Constance, a student at 
the University of California, particularly 
devoted to art, and Mildred, attending the 
r;akland High School, who has developed 
exceptional talent in music. 




James P. Edoff 



3T, 



James P. EdofF 

Park Commissioner 




XE of Oakland's representa- 
tive citizens who has had an 
interesting career, and has 
been eminently successful in 
some of the biggest business 
enterprises of Oakland, is James P. Edofif, 
member of the Board of Park Commis- 
sioners. 

Mr. Edoflf is a native of the "Hoosier" 
State, 1)orn in Laport, Indiana, on Janu- 




ar}- 1st, 1856. He received his education 
in the public schools of New York, and 
afterwards in the old Brayton School of 
Oakland. He left Oakland as a lad and 
went to the frontier in Nevada, where he 
remained fifteen years. During this time 
he gradually obtained control of the man- 
agement of the Diamond "R" properties 
at Pioche, Nevada, having entire super- 
vision of the transportation of ores and 
machinery, and the general operation of 



the mines at this point. 

After leaving Nevada, Mr. Edofif re- 
turned to Oakland, and became interested 
in several mercantile and realty enter- 
prises with marked success. He is at 
present a director in the Oakland Bank 
of Savings; President of the Oakland 
Title and Abstract Company; ex-President 
of the Athenian Club, of Oakland, and 
Receiver of the California Bank. His ex 
cellent work as Receiver of this institu- 
tion, in handling the assets so as to bring 
the best possible returns to the deposi- 
tors, has been a subject of public com- 
ment in Oakland. Under his management, 
the creditors of the bank have already re- 
ceived a big percentage of their claims. 

Two years ago, in May, 1909, he was 
appointed Park Commissioner, and has 
been a worker for all reasonable measures 
to beautify the city. At the time of the 
San Francisco disaster, 1906, he handled 
all the Relief Funds collected in this 
vicinity. 

He is the financial manager of the Oak- 
land Hotel Company, which has just about 
completed one of the most magnificent 
hotels in the United States, on Thirteenth 
Street, which is spoken of more fully else- 
where in this volume. 

Mr. Edofif has two daughters, Mrs. 
Florence Baldwin, and Miss Allene Edofif, 
both accomplished and prominent socially. 
His son, Frank, a young man of twenty- 
five, is making his own way in the world, 
and is now associated with the F. H. 
Mott Company. 

His father, Captain Louis Edofif, was 
killed before Richmond during the War 
of the Rebellion. 

James P. Edoflf is a man with broad- 
gauge ideas, and has the executive ability 
to carry them out, and in this volume, 
dealing with Oakland's growth and prog- 
ress, the editors concede that he has been 
a most important factor in the upbuilding 
of the commonwealth. 



378 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Wilson S. Gould 

Park Commissioner 




HEN the interviewer called 
upon Mr. Gould for material 
tor this sketch, he found a 
l)ig man with big ideas, and 
who. although reluctant to 
talk of himself, was readj- and willing to 
discuss anything touching on the progress 
and improvement of Oakland. 

As a Park Commissioner he has natur- 
ally given particular thought and study to 




the city's park system, and he is ambitious 
to bring about the development and ex- 
tension of Oakland's parks, that will put 
them on a par with any city in the West. 
Mr. Gould's activity as a Park Commis- 
sioner has been exceeded by no other 
member of that Board. It was largely 
through his efforts, acting in conjunction 
with City Attorney J. E. McElroy, that 
Moss Wood Park, now one of Oakland's 
prettiest spots, was secured for the city. 
/ t the time it was offered in probate sale 
these two men made a bid on the prop- 



erty and succeeded in buying it, through 
the aid of Oakland's banks, for the city. 

Mr. Gould states that he, with the rest 
of the Park Commissioners, is looking 
forward to the time when Oakland can 
boast of a park from its sea level to Red- 
wood Peak, taking in beautiful Diamond 
Canyon and Trestle Glen. When this is 
accomplished, it would not only rival 
Golden Gate Park of San Francisco, but 
would be one of the finest parks in the 
world. One of the unique features would 
be the unusual variety of altitude. One 
could enjoy almost anything from sea 
breezes to mountain air. 

As a Park Commissioner Mr. Gould 
takes deep interest and finds real enjoy- 
ment in his work, and his general apti- 
tude and exceptional executive ability 
have made him an ideal man for the office 
he has consented to occupy. He has al- 
ways worked in perfect harmony with 
the rest of the Board, and states that in 
his opinion, President W^alter Manuel 
makes a most excellent head for the Park 
Commission, and the Board as a whole 
has done the most conscientious work for 
the commonwealth. 

Air. Gould is a native of the Hoosier 
State, born in Michigan City, Indiana, on 
May 7th, 186.3. He received his early edu- 
cation in the public schools of his native 
town, and later acquired considerable busi- 
ness experience with several large busi- 
ness and financial concerns in Eastern 
cities, coming to Oakland in 189.5. He 
soon afterward became associated with the 
Cosmopolitan Mutual Building and F^oan 
Association of this city as its Secretary, 
where he has remained until the present 
time. Mr. Gould's marriage to Miss 
Frances Bracken took place in Chicago on 
January 20th, 1891. 

His father, Zebina Gould, who was one 
of the early settlers of Indiana, died when 
young Gould was little more than a boy, 
and he has always had to make his own 
way in the world. He has succeeded be- 
cause of his abundant energy, his strict 
integrity and inherent ability. 



Henry F. Vogt 



379 



Henry F. Vogt 

Secretary of the Park Commission 



l^mwli 


1 



R. HEXRY F. VOGT, the 
gentleman who has charge 
of the detail work of the 
Board of Park Commission- 
ers, has won the respect and 
friendship of those with whom he comes 
in contact, both on account of his strict 
attention to his duties and the courtesy he 
has shown the public in the transaction of 
his business. 




Courtesy of Stewa7l Photo 

Mr. Vogt is the son of David Vogt, 
who was one of the early pioneers of 
California, coming to the coast in 1858 
around the Horn. The elder Vogt took 
up his residence in Oakland way back in 
'64. and was one of the prominent citizens 



of his time, being an active business man. 
and well known in the fraternal societies 
of his day. He is one of the Past Presi- 
dents of the Sons of Herman. His death 
occurred in Oakland on January 1st. 1905. 

Mr. Henry Vogt was born in Pinole, 
Contra Costa Count3\ California, on De- 
cember 19th, 1863. He went to the Oak- 
land schools as a boy and married an 
Oakland girl, Miss Clara E. Lickiss. in 
this city, on October 17th, 1895. He has 
one son, David A. Vogt. thirteen j'ears 
of age. 

After finishing his common school edu- 
cation he went into the livery business, 
and conducted stables here for a period 
of eighteen years. Although he has al- 
ways had a deep interest in the civic wel- 
fare of Oakland, and had been active in 
several matters pertaining to public im- 
provements, it was not until a com- 
paratively recent date that he held a posi- 
tion in the city's government. In fact, 
he has never tried to secure one, as his 
interest in public affairs has been particu- 
larly free from any selfish interest or 
mercenary motive. 

In October, 1908, he was tendered a 
position as Clerk in the Board of Public 
Works, and served in this capacitj- for 
one year. He was next appointed as 
Clerk to the Park Commission. The class 
of work performed by him in this office 
led to rapid promotion. In four months' 
time he was appointed Assistant Secre- 
tary, and on the first of July, 1910. was 
tendered the office of Secretary of the 
Board of Park Commissioners, which 
office he now holds. 

Mr. Vogt has been an earnest and live 
worker in the interests of the Republican 
party, and his influence has been felt dur- 
ing several recent campaigns. He is a 
member of the City Central Committee 
from the Seventh Ward, and a popular 
member of the Woodmen of the World. 



380 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



George E. Dickie 

Superintendent of Playgrounds 



R. GEORGE E. DICKIE, the 
active and virile young man 
in direct charge of the 
amusements and healthful 
exercise of the rising gen- 
eration of Oakland, deserves favorable 
notice in these pages for the excellent 
work he is doing in his cliosen field of 
usefuhiess. 





Mr. Dickie is a native son. born in San 
Francisco, February 19th, 1884. He en- 
joys an excellent education, received first 
in the public schools of San Francisco and 
Paso Robles, then in the Paso Robles 
High School, of which he is a graduate, 
and finally in the University of Califor- 
nia, from which institution he graduated 
with the class of 1906, at the age of 
twenty-two. He graduated with the rank 
of Lieutenant-Colonel of Cadets at the 
University, and after graduation was re- 



tained as instructor in military tactics and 
drill. 

About all the time that Mr. Dickie could 
spare from his real estate business, in 
which he was engaged in Oakland for 
some time, he devoted to the interests 
and welfare of the boys of the city. As 
Secretary and Director of the Aloha Boys' 
Club in West Oakland, he has done much 
to uplift the character of the young men 
in that vicinity. He organized the first 
boys' club in Alameda, a military and 
athletic organization, and has been identi- 
fied with similar work for the past eight 
years in Oakland and other places. He 
is also one of the leaders of the present 
Boy Scouts movement in Oakland. 

He is the first one to hold the office of 
Superintendent of Playgrounds in this 
city, receiving the appointment from the 
Playgrounds Committee in May, 1909. 

As Superintendent of Playgrounds he 
has direct supervision of all the public 
playgrounds in the city, including Bush- 
rod Park Playground, which is the first 
fully equipped model public playground 
in the city; De Fremery Park Playground, 
Bay View Playground, and the Tompkins, 
Garfield, Prescott and Durant School Sum- 
mer Playgrounds. 

Mr. Dickie is in his element in this 
work. It is largely through his sugges- 
tions that the playgrounds are equipped 
as completely as possible with see-saws, 
slides, swings, gymnasiums, and other ap- 
paratus. He has endeavored to have in- 
stalled only such apparatus as will pro- 
vide healthful exercise and entertainment 
free from any element of danger. His 
heart is in his work, and he is constantly 
planning for the betterment of conditions 
affecting the children of the city. His 
office is more important than is apparent 
on the surface, when we know that the 
boy of today is the man and citizen of 
tomorrow, and the environment of the 
youth is a most important factor in shap- 
ing his future career. Mr. Dickie seems 
to be the right man in the right place. 



Malcom Lamond 



381 



Malcolm Lamond 

Superintendent of Parks 




HERE has been a strong agi- 
tation among city officials 
and business men in the 
matter of bettering the park 
system of Oakland. An ap- 
propriation of $500,000 has been asked for 
to carry on the work already under way 
and contemplated, and we venture the 
opinion that such a sum could not be more 
wisely expended. None of the Eastern 
parks, with the millions appropriated 
yearly toward their maintenance. can 
equal the effects existing naturally and to 
be produced artifically here. 

While the appropriations liave been 
rather meager so far for park improve- 
ments, much credit is due to the gentle- 
man in immediate charge of the city's 
parks — Mr. Malcolm Lamond. He in- 
stalled the first public playgrounds, with 
the approval of the Mayor, at Independ- 
ence Square, since re-named San Antonio 
Park. He has been a constant planner 
and worker for any measures toward beau- 
tifying and improving the city, and he 
states that in this regard Mayor Mott has 
always been willing and ready to support 
him in his suggestions for needed im- 
provements. 

Mr. Lamond is a lover of nature, and 
has made a deep study of the art of horti- 
culture. He has been doing this sort of 
work practically all of his life, and is 
naturally adapted to it. Born in Scotland, 
November 12th, 1863, in the town of 
Stirling, after a public school education, 



he followed his natural inclination and 
secured a position as gardener's appren- 
tice. 

After serving his apprenticeship and 
mastering the trade thoroughly, he was ap- 
pointed Foreman of Gardeners tr> the 
Countess of Rothes, Leslie Hou c, Fife- 
shire, in 1884, at the age of twenty-one. 

In 1889, he came to America, going di- 
rectly to Chicago, working one year in 
a florist establishment, and subsequently 
occupied a similar position in Denver for 
several years. Coming to California in 
1893, he was engaged as Head Gardener 
in Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, 
California. 

When' the Board of Public Works was 
looking for a suitable man to take charge 
of Oakland's parks, about seven years ago, 
Mr. Lamond had gained such a broad 
experience as a landscape gardener and 
was so proficient in the art of horticulture, 
that he was a most acceptable candidate 
f(ir the position, and he was appointed 
Superintendent of Parks for the City of 
Oakland in August, 1903. 

During his seven years' service there 
have been more improvements in Oak- 
land's parks, and they have been kept in 
better condition than ever before. Should 
there be a suitable appropriation for beau- 
tifying the parks of the city, Mr. Lamond 
is in an excellent position to lend valuable 
suggestions as to how these funds should 
be expended, and he will no doubt be a 
factor in seeing that the money is spent 
where it will do the most good. 



382 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Dr. Oliver D. Hamlin 

Ex- Member of the Board of Health 



HEN the editors state that it 
took an interviewer just one 
month to secure an audience 
with Dr. Hamlin, for the 
purpose of gathering ma- 
terial for this volume, it is pretty evident 
that he is a comforta])ly busy man. With 





Courtesy ofDorsaz Photo 

the old maxim in mind that "Everything 
comes to those who wait," however, the 
reporter waited, and his patience was 
finally rewarded by a brief interview. He 
found that the doctor's constant and try- 
ing work had not robbed him of either 
his naturall}' sunny disposition or courteous 



consideration for visitors, and it was a 
real pleasure to meet the vigorous young 
surgeon. 

Dr. Hamlin is a product of California 
soil, born in Alameda County on April 
21st, 1870. After going through the pub- 
lic schools, he attended Santa Clara Col- 
lege, taking a general course, graduating 
in 1890. In 1891 he entered the Cooper 
Medical College, of San Francisco, and 
graduated from that institution in 1891. 
He commenced active practice immediately 
after leaving college, under the House 
Surgeon of the Southern Pacific Hospital, 
Dr. Woolsey. He showed marked natural 
ability in his profession from the start, 
and went ahead rapidly. He began to 
devote particular attention and study to 
surgery early in his career, and now ranks 
with the best surgeons on the Pacific 
Coast. He began as Assistant in the Re- 
ceiving Hospital, and later was appointed 
Chief Division Surgeon of the Southern 
Pacific Hospital. He is Professor of Sur- 
gery in the Oakland College of Medicine 
and Surgery, and Chief Surgeon, Alameda 
County Emergency Hospital. 

Dr. Hamlin was appointed member of 
the Board of Health of Oakland about 
twelve years ago. and acted as President 
of the Board for eight years. He is in 
no sense a politician, nor is he active in 
politics, and the public is fortunate in 
having a man of his experience and un- 
questioned ability serving on the Board. 

Dr. Hamlin married Miss Elizabeth Mc- 
Mahon, of San Mateo, California. They 
have one son, Oliver D., Jr., a young man 
of eighteen, who is now attending the 
University of California. The doctor's 
father, another Oliver Hamlin, was an 
early settler of California, coming to the 
Coast in '49 by way of the Isthmus. 



L. P. Adams — Dr. C. H. Rowe 



383 



Lemuel Payson Adams 

Ex-Member Board of Health 




R. LEMUEL P. ADAMS, 
ex-member of the Board 
of Health in tlie City of 
Oakland, is a native of 
Vermont, born on July 22d, 
1875. As a boy he attended the public 
schools of Vermont, and in 1893 entered 
the University of Vermont, from which 
institution he graduated with an A. B. 
degree. He came to Oakland in 1901, and 
has since practiced his profession in this 
city with great success. 

He is Professor of Surgery of the Oak- 



land College of Medicine, and about five 
years ago was appointed by Mayor Mott 
to his present office on the Board of 
Health. Two years ago he was President 
of the Alameda County Medical Society, 
and is a member of the State and National 
Medical Societies. 

Dr. Adams' marriage to Miss Elizabeth 
L. Leigh occurred in Oakland in 1893. 
The doctor states he is not in politics or 
engaged in outside business interests, and 
his entire time and attention is given to 
his chosen profession. 



Dr. Charles Henry Rowe 

Ex-Member of the Board of Health 




WELL known professional 
gentleman, and a man who 
has done effective work in 
maintaining a clean and san- 
itary city, is Dr. Charles H. 
Rowe, who received the appointment as 
member of the Board of Health by Mayor 
Mott in January, 1911. 

Dr. Rowe is a native of San Francisco, 
born on April 27th. 1875. He enjoys an 
excellent and finished education, having 
first attended the public schools, and later 
the University of California. Early in his 
career he decided upon the medical pro- 
fession as his field of usefulness, and en- 
tered Cooper's Medical Institute, being ad- 



mitted to practice in 1898. 

He is in no sense a politician, and has 
made it a rule to keep himself free from 
business enterprises foreign to his pro- 
fession. His large private practice and 
official duties have demanded his undivided 
attention, and it is through such concen- 
tration as well as to his recognized ability 
that he owes his success. He was City 
Chemist and Bacteriologist in 1905, and 
has been on the medical stafif at Merritt 
Hospital for several years. 

Dr. Rowe's marriage to Miss Elizabeth 
Griswold occurred in Oakland, in 1900. 
There is one daughter, Margaret, age 
seven years. 



384 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Dr. William K. Sanborn 

Ex-Member of the Board of Health 



R. WILLIAM K. SANBORN, 
who has been a member of 
the Oakland Board of Health 
since 1908, and stands high 
in the medical profession, 



has truly been the "architect of his own 





fortune," and thoroughly a self-made man. 
His father, Lewis D. Sanborn, was a 



prominent pioneer of California, coming 
to the Coast around the Horn in 1853, 
after a tempestuous voyage, and surviving 
a shipwreck. His home was built in the 
East and shipped around the Horn in sec- 
tions. Although the doctor's mother is 
living, enjoying good health at seventy- 
seven years of age, his father died in 1883, 
when William was seventeen years old. Left 
to his own resources at an early age, he has 
had to rely solely upon his own efforts, 
winning success in spite of adverse condi- 
tions. 

Dr. Sanborn was born in Benicia, Califor- 
nia, on November 25th, 1865, and received 
his education in the public schools and St. 
Augustine College. As a boy he worked in 
the drug business in Benicia from the time 
he was sixteen, in 1881, until 1887. He then 
went to San Francisco, where he worked 
for F. C. Keil, an old-time druggist, and 
well-known in that city. After graduating 
from the College of Pharmacy, where he re- 
ceived the gold medal, he returned to Benicia 
and engaged in the drug business for him- 
self until 1891. In 1893 he graduated from 
medical college, standing at the head of his 
class, and a year later began the practice of 
medicine in Oakland, having built up a large 
and remunerative practice. 

The doctor's marriage to Miss Emma L. 
Bruce occurred in Oakland in 1893. They 
have one son, Mervyn D., a bright boy of 
seventeen, attending the Oakland High 
School. 



Dr. Edward Norton Ewer 



385 



Dr. Edward Norton Ewer 

Health Officer 



I PARTICULARLY efticicnt man 
in Oakland's city government, 
who occupies the important 
post of maintaining a health- 
ful city, is Dr. Edward N. 

Ewer, wlio lias been Health Officer for the 

past* six years. 





Dr. Ewer is a native of Wisconsin, born 
in Brodhead, on March 14th, 1866. He re- 
ceived his education in the public schools of 
Milwaukee, and later entered the University 
of Michigan, from which institution he grad- 
uated in 1892. After leaving the University 
he went abroad and completed his medical 
education in the cities of Dublin, Edinburgh 
and Berlin. Returning to the United States, 
he came directly to Oakland, and has been 
|)racticing here continuously ever since. 



He received the appointment as Health 
Officer in 1905, and has held office longer 
than any of his predecessors. Dr. Ewer has 
done excellent work in the Health Depart- 
ment of the city at all times, but it was 
immediately after the San Francisco earth- 
quake and fire that he showed his mettle 
and executive ability in a great emergency. 
When the magnitude of the disaster in San 
Francisco became evident to the Oakland 
City Health Department, and it realized that 
enormous numbers of destitute people would 
have to receive shelter in hastily-constructed 
camps, the Health Department immediately 
began preparations to meet the sanitary re- 
quirements of the emergency. The Health 
Officer, at the suggestion of Mayor Mott, 
attended a meeting of citizens, at which the 
Relief Committee was organized, and Dr. 
Ewer was made Chairman of the sub-com- 
mittee on health. His efficient work at that 
time is well remembered. By prompt or- 
ganization, and careful precautionary meas- 
ures he made great headway in keeping the 
city in a sanitary condition, and it is a 
significant fact, and a tribute to the doctor's 
work, that not a single case of typhoid fever 
was reported during the time of the disaster. 

Dr. Ewer is a member of the American 
Medical Association, Councilor of the State 
Medical Association, member of the Ala- 
meda County Medical Association, and is a 
Professor and one of the organizers of the 
Oakland College of Medicine, having been 
one of its Directors since its organization, 
ten or twelve years ago. This institution has 
turned out numerous graduates, not a single 
one of whom has failed to pass the State 
Board of Medical Examiners. 

Dr. Ew-er's marriage to Miss Flora Louise 
Goldsmith, of Alilwaukee, occurred in that 
city in 1898. He is a popular member of 
the Athenian Club of Oakland, and a IMason. 



]8() 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




DR. DUKES 
Ex-President Board of Health 

Courtesy of Webster Photo 



Benjamin H. Pendleton 



387 




B. H. PEXDLETOX 

Ex-President City Council and Present Civil 
Service Commissioner 



Benjamin H. Pendleton 

Member of Civil Service Board, Municipal Water Commission 
and Ex-President City Council 




R. BENJAMIN H. PENDLE- 
TON, who was President of 
the late City Council at the 
time the new charter went into 
effect, is known by Oaklanders 
to be one of the most public spirited and 
representative men in the city, and has done 
a great deal to bring about a "Greater Oak- 
land." 

Mr. Pendleton was born in Shanghai, 
China, on October 20th, 1862, but has spent 
most of his life in this country. After a 
practical preparatory education, he entered 



Yale University, taking an academic course, 
and graduated with high honors in 1884, at 
the age of twenty-two. Immediately after his 
graduation, he became associated with Horn 
& Company, the wholesale cigar house, now 
located at 40 Drumm Street, San Francisco. 
He began in this business in 1885, and has 
been eminently successful, now owning the 
business entirel3^ 

In 1898 he was appointed on the Board of 
Free Public Library Trustees, in Oakland, 
and in this capacity he did most excellent 
work. He served on this Board for four 



388 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



years. He was elected Councilman eight 
years ago on the Republican ticket, and was 
President of the Council for two years, 
being the last President under the old 
regime. All Oaklanders are familiar with 
Air. Pendleton's fine record as President of 
the City Council. He was the dominant 
figure in arranging the details of the South- 
ern Pacific franchise, on Seventh Street, and 
it was largely on account of his study and 
untiring efforts that the matter was finally 
settled by the payment by the railroad com- 
pany of a yearly rental for the use of 
Seventh Street, which is greater than is paid 
for the use of a street by any other railroad 
in the United States. He was also a strong 
factor in securing for the city a reduction 
in the water rates, after a great deal of ar- 
gument and litigation of long standing. A 
graduated scale of reduction was brought 
about, which has meant a saving during the 
last four years to the city of Oakland of about 
nine hundred thousand dollars. He was also 
very active in bringing about a settlement of 
the Western water front matter, and it was 
Mr. Pendleton who suggested that the 
wharfing-out rights be recognized by the 
Western Pacific Railway Company by the 
payment of a yearly rental, which principle, 
having been established, was followed out, 
to the great advantage of the city in e.xact- 



ing a like rental from the Southern Pacific 
Company and the Key Route. It was through 
his suggestion, also, that the Oakland Mole 
and water front rights of the Southern Pa- 
cific Company revert to the City of Oak- 
land at the expiration of its franchise. The 
class of work that Mr. Pendleton has done 
for the city in these very important matters 
is easily apparent. 

Mr. Pendleton is President of the Asso- 
ciated Charities Association of Oakland, 
whicli is affiliated with the city government. 
He is a member of several clubs and asso- 
ciations, among which are the Nile Club, 
University Club of San Francisco, and Sons 
of the American Revolution. He may feel 
a just pride in his ancestors, several of whom 
occupy an important place in the early his- 
tory of the nation. Captain Ben Pendleton, 
from whom he is a direct descendant, was 
a fighter in the cause of American Inde- 
pendence, and as a naval officer succeeded in 
capturing a British warship. 

During his recent absence from the city 
he was appointed by Mayor Mott as mem- 
ber of the Civil Service Board. He is also 
the Chairman of the Municipal Water Com- 
mission, which has for its purpose the acquisi- 
tion of the water company's plant. In pol- 
itics, Mr. Pendleton says he is a Taft Re- 
publican. 




Harrison Sidney Robinson 



389 




HARRISON SIDNEY ROBINSON 
Member Civil Service Commission 

Courtesy of Bushnell Tholo 



Harrison Sidney Robinson 

Member Civil Service Board 





1 



R. H. S. ROBINSON, who is 
an exceptionally bright young 
attorney, and a worker for 
civic improvements, is a native 
Californian. born in San Fran- 
cisco, July 13, 1877. He received his edu- 
cation in the public schools of San Fran- 
cisco, and graduated from the University of 
California in 1900 with degree of Bachelor 
of Letters. At college he was the editor 
of the "Daily Californian" ; associate editor 
"University Magazine," associate editor "Blue 
and Gold," and lieutenant-colonel of Univer- 
sity Regiment. His first occupation in life 
was that of a newspaper reporter in Oak- 
land. 

He has been engaged in the practice of law 



in Oakland since 1902. Since 1903 the firm 
has been Robinson & Johnson, now at 401 
and 406 First National Bank Building, mak- 
ing specialty of corporation and general com- 
mercial practice and probate. Office system- , 
atically organized and conducted on modern ' 
business lines. 

He received the appointment as member of 
the Civil Service Board from Mayor Mott 
in September, 1911, under the new charter. 

Mr. Robinson was a member of the Board 
of Freeholders, Oakland, 1910, and Chairman 
of the Revision Committee of that body. 
He is also a member of the Athenian Club, 
a 32nd degree Mason, and connected with 
the Woodmen of the World. 



390 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




L. N. COBBLEDICK 

Ex-Councilman and Member Civil Service 

Board 



L. N. Cobbledick 

Ex-Councilman of Seventh Ward and Member 
Civil Service Board 




STRONG supporter of the ad- 
ministration and an active 
worker for the progress of the 
city is Ex-Councilman L. N. 
Cobbledick. It is but natural 
that he should take a keen interest in the 
development and good government of Oak- 
land because he was born here and has lived 
in the city all his life, a matter of forty-three 
years. 

Mr. Cobbledick is the son of James Cobble- 
dick, who was one of the sturdy pioneers of 
California, who came to the Coast in 1850, 
around the Horn. He is one of a large family, 
there being five boys and six girls. Mr. Cob- 



bledick was born in Oakland on February 15, 
18fi7, and v/ent to the Franklin school here 
as a boy. After acquiring a good practical 
education he went to work for the Whittier- 
Fuller Company in his early youth, and it was 
with that concern that he won a reputation 
for faithfulness to duty, absolute honesty and 
marked ability in business. Starting at the 
very bottom of the ladder, he rose by degrees 
until, when he resigned his position to go 
into business for himself, he was head of 
the glass department of that concern. His 
service with the Whittier-Fuller Company 
covered a period of nine years. 

On March 1, 1891, after acquiring a thor- 



L. N. COBBLEDICK 



391 



ough knowledge of the paint and glass busi- 
ness and possessing an inherent executive 
ability, he decided to go into business for 
himself, his first store being at 358 Twelfth 
Street, Oakland. He successfully conducted 
a general business in paints, oils and wall 
paper at that locality, and later at 401 Twelfth 
Street. After the San Francisco fire he sold 
out the paint and wall paper department of 
his business at a profitable figure and has 
since confined himself exclusively to glass and 
mirrors. He has been located at 712-14 
Broadway, his present place of business, for 
the past five years, and is the representative 
man in his line of trade in the city. 

It was at the earnest solicitation of Mayor 
Mott that Mr. Cobbledick consented to run 
for Councilman from the Seventh Ward. The 
Mayor well knew his sterling principles and 
his deep interest in the welfare of Oakland, 
and although the salary of the office was 
merely nominal, he was public spirited enough 
to allow his name to be used on the Repub- 
lican ticket and was elected by a large ma- 
jority. 

He made an excellent Councilman. He orig- 
inated and put through the ordinance pro- 
hibiting slot machines in the city, and has 
been a factor in putting through the Hopkins 
Boulevard, from Lake Merritt to the Foothill 
Boulevard, connecting with Mills College. 
Improvements of this kind have been a great 



hobby with him, and altogether he has bee-i 
a valuable acquisition to the Board of Coun- 
cilmen. 

He is a strong supporter of Mayor Mott, 
has a thorough appreciation of the good work 
he has done for Oakland, and firmly believes 
that in future years the Mayor will be appre- 
ciated as the most able public official Oakland 
ever had. 

:\Ir. Cobbledick's marriage to Miss Florence 
White occurred in this city on February aO, 
1890. ]Mrs. Cobbledick is the daughter of 
Wilson White, a noted manufacturer of San 
Francisco, whose death occurred on May 13, 
1889. Mr. White was widely known as the 
bag king of the Pacific Coast. Mr. Cobble- 
dick has two sons, Lloyd, the eldest, now nin<v 
teen years of age, attending high school, and 
Wilson, seventeen, now in the Polytechnic 
High School. 

Mr. Cobbledick is a Shriner, member of 
the Woodmen of the World and has been a 
member of the Native Sons for the past 
twenty-two years, having been District Deputy 
Grand President. He has always taken a 
strong interest in military work, and is cap- 
tain of the First Congregational Cadets, 
which is one of the finest military companies 
in the State. He was recently appointed by 
the Mayor as member of the Civil Service 
Board. 




392 



Greater Oaki.an'd, 1911 



Albert H. Elliot 

Lawyer and Ex-Councilman of Oakland 



LBERT H. ELLIOT, member 
of the late City Council of 
Oakland and a successful attor- 
ney, has occupied an important 
place in the city's political af- 
fairs for years past. He was elected to the 
council in 1903 on the Republican ticket, and 





had been continuously returned to office by 
the vote of the people up until the time the 
new charter went into effect, in 1911, when 
the council was practically eliminated in the 
city's government. 

Mr. Elliot acted as president of the council 
for one year and was chairman of the Ordi- 
nance and Judiciary Committee for seven 
years. He was also a member of the Finance 
Committee for seven years. He made an ex- 
cellent Councilman, and a good many measures 



tliafhavc resulted in a better civic govern- 
ment have been put into effect because of his 
ideas and suggestions. He has always advo- 
cated municipal ownership of the city's water 
supply and did his best to bring this about. 
He also has the distinction of being one of 
the freeholders that framed Oakland's new 
charter and this instrument embodies several 
of his ideas. 

Mr. Elliot is a Native Son, liorn in San 
Francisco on June 29, 1868. He took a regu- 
lar course in the University of California, 
graduating in 1891. He studied law privately 
and was admitted to the bar in 1892. The first 
time he was in court he was the plaintiff and 
tried his own case and won it. Since that 
time lie has tried many intricate cases, and 
his ability in argument and analysis has gen- 
erally enabled him to win. He now has a 
very lucrative legal business, occupying a 
large suite of offices at 34 Ellis Street, San 
Francisco, and has about all the work he can 
attend to. 

Mr. Elliot's marriage to Miss Adelina Bun- 
nell took place in Martinez, Cal., on June 6, 
1893. They have two children, one very ac- 
complished daughter. Miss Alice Bunnell 
Elliot, a girl of fifteen, who exhibited marked 
dramatic ability some time ago when she took 
the leading part in "Miss Somebody of Some- 
where," which play was given under the aus- 
pices of the Oakland Club and prominent so- 
ciety people, and one son, Albert H., Jr., a 
boy of seven. Mr. Elliot has two brothers, 
Charles M., who is vice-president of the San 
Francisco Chamber of Commerce, and W. E. 
Elliot, who has been in the lumber business 
in Oakland for about fourteen years. 

Mr. Elliot is a Spanish-American War vet- 
eran and held the important place of mate on 
the v. S. S. Iroquois, as third officer in com- 
mand of the ship. He graduated from the 
LIniversity with the rank of lieutenant colonel, 
and was in a position to pass a creditable ex- 
amination for the post. 



Oliver Eij.swokth 



393 




OLIVER ELLSWORTH 
Ex-Member City Council 



Oliver Ellsworth 

Ex-Member of the City Council 




WELL-KNOWN member of the 
California bar, who has done 
effective work in introducing 
many measures and reforms 
that have been a great benefit 
to the commonwealth, is Oliver Ellsworth, 
member of the City Council up until the time 
Oakland's new charter went into effect. 

Mr. Ellsworth is a native of California, 
born in Mission San Jose on April 7, 1867. 
He enjoys an excellent education, received in 
the grammar schools and high school of Oak- 
land and later in the University of California, 
from which institution he graduated with the 
degree of A. B. in 1888, at the age of twenty- 



one. He decided to follow the law early in 
Ills career, and immediately after his gradua- 
tion from the University entered the Hastings 
College of Law, being admitted to practice in 
1891. As a lawyer he has been a success from 
the start. The first case he handled was Cox 
z's. Delmas, a suit involving the question of 
an attorney's right to buy up the claims 
against his client, which was tried before a 
jury and won by Mr. Ellsworth. He has 
since been connected with many cases involv- 
ing fine points of law and has generally been 
successful. He has been prominently identi- 
fied with matters of litigation in connection 
with mutual building and loan associations 



394 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



and other similar institutions where technicali- 
ties of law were involved. Mr. Ellsworth is 
attorney for the Stewart Fruit Company, the 
largest private shipping concern of its kind in 
the State, and other important corporations. 
He is also actively interested in the develop- 
ment of California oil properties, being presi- 
dent of two companies operating in the Kern 
River field, and has had considerable to do 
with the settlement of legal points bearing on 
"lien land selection" in relation to oil prop- 
erty, with regard to which a case was recently 
carried to the United States Supreme Court 
and resulted in victory for the oil men. 

Mr. Ellsworth was elected councilman-at- 
large immediately after the San Francisco dis- 
aster, having received the Republican nomina- 
tion and the endorsement of the Citizens" AIu 
nicipal League. He was president of the 
Council immediately preceding Mr. Pendleton. 
Mr. Ellsworth, together with Mr. Pendleton, 
gave particular attention to obtaining for the 
city a. proper remuneration from the railway 
companies upon granting franchises, and as- 
sisted in framing the plan of exacting annual 
payments from the railroads. He also helped 



frame the amendments to the liquor laws, re- 
stricting the number of saloons and enforcing 
rigid conditions as to their management. He 
had a special detective go through the so- 
called "social clubs," and upon the evidence 
obtained the police closed up several of these 
places. 

Mr. Ellsworth is the son of H. G. Ells- 
worth, an old resident of Alameda County, 
who, with E. L. Beard, secured a patent from 
the Government of 6,000 acres in this county 
in 1852. The elder Ellsworth died in Niles 
in 1897. Mr. Ellsworth's great-great-grand- 
father was third Chief Justice of the United 
States and served in several of the most im- 
portant diplomatic offices for the United States 
Government. 

Mr. Ellsworth's marriage to Miss Lillian 
Mastick, daughter of Joseph Mastick and 
granddaughter of E. B. Mastick, president of 
the board of trustees of the Lick Estate and 
well known throughout the State, occurred in 
Alameda on May 26, 1897. They have one 
daughter, Beatrice, a child of eight. Mr. Ells- 
worth is a member of several clubs and fra- 
ternities. 




John Ryle MacGregor 



395 



John Ryle MacGregor 

Ex-Councilman 



XE of the staunch Republicans 
in the late City Council of Oak- 
land was John Ryle MacGregor. 
Mr. MacGregor is of Scotch 
extraction and has inherited all 
the goo^d, practical common sense of his ances- 





J. R. MacGREGOR 

Ex- Councilman 

tors, which, with a naturally bright mind, has 
brought him success in his business and has 
made him an excellent judge of the right 
course of action in the various important mat- 



ters before the board, the correct solution of 
which meant so much to the city's interests. 

Mr. MacGregor was born in Nova Scotia, 
in the town of Middleton, on December 10, 
1863. He received his rudimentary education 
in the schools of his native town until the age 
of sixteen, when the family moved to the 
United States. 

He married Miss Henrietta Weaver, in 
Mayfield, Santa Clara County, California, on 
June 10, 1890. The bride and groom came to 
Oakland on their honeymoon and liked the 
city so well that they have resided here ever 
since. Mr. MacGregor has been engaged in 
the contracting business and has lately devoted 
a large part of his time to real estate and 
insurance, in which he has been entirely suc- 
cessful. 

In 1909 Mr. MacGregor's friends urged him 
to accept the nomination on the Republican 
ticket for Councilman, and he did so, being 
elected by a good majority. Previous to this, 
in 1896, he was appointed member of the Ade- 
line Sanitary Board. 

Mr. MacGregor as Councilman has shown 
himself to be alive to public issues, and more- 
over has been thoroughly conscientious in his 
work for the interests of the taxpayers and 
the public at large. He took an active part 
in the annexation movement in 1897, and is 
the author of the new traffic ordinance. He 
is also prominently identified with the Santa 
Fe Improvement Club. He acted as chairman 
of the License Committee and made a practice 
of attending the meetings of all other com- 
mittees. 

Mr. MacGregor is well known and well 
liked in Oakland and is a member of the 
Woodmen of the World, Odd Fellows, and is 
a Mason. 



396 



Greater Oakland. 1911 



Eugene Stachler 

Ex-Councilman 



R. EUGENE STACHLER. a 
member of the City Council up 
until the time the new charter 
went into effect, has been an 
active and vigorous worker for 
good government for years past. He was a 
formidable candidate for Commissioner at the 





EUGENE STACHLER 

Ex-COUNCILMAN 
Courtesy of'Doisaz Photo 

last election, receiving the direct primary 
nomination for the office, and was only de- 
feated after a hard fight. 

Mr. Stachler is a native of San Francisco, 
born on June 28, 1869. He attended the Oak- 
land public schools as a boy, and graduated 
from the Oakland high school. As an adjunct 
to his public school education he attended 
Taylor's Business College. He learned the 
harness and saddlerv business and followed 



that work, with headquarters at 2041 Adeline 
Street, up until the time of the San Fran- 
cisco earthquake and fire, at which time he 
lost most of his trade in that city, which con- 
stituted In' far the largest portion of his busi- 
ness. Since tiiat time he has become inter- 
ested in several business interests in the city 
which have occupied most of his time. 

Mr. Stachler was nominated four years ago 
on the Democratic. Republican and Union 
Labor tickets for Councilman, receiving the 
second highest vote in the city at the election. 
He was again nominated and elected to suc- 
ceed himself in 1909, when he received the 
highest vote on the ticket, leading the Mayor 
by 900 votes. During his first term he served 
on the Wharves and Water Front, Railroads 
and Streets and License Committees. During 
1ms second term he was a member of the 
Finance Committee, Railroads and Streets 
Committee, Fire and Water and License 
Conrnittees. He states that it gave him great 
pleasure to vote for the $5,000,000 bond issue 
which was defeated. The second time the 
measure came up for $2,500,000 bonds, which 
he of course voted for. He also voted for the 
new charter on two occasions, which was car- 
ried the last time. He has worked hard for 
improved fire equipment and more fire houses, 
and was instrumental in securing a raise in 
the firemen's pay from $90 to $100 per month, 
getting for them four days off out of each 
month and fifteen days' vacation each year. 
He also voted twice for school bonds to in- 
crease Oakland's educational facilities. In 
fact, as Councilman he has shown his energy 
and attitude plainly in fighting for every rea- 
sonable measure to improve public utilities 
and civic improvements. 

Mr. Stachler married Miss Henrietta Car- 
len, who comes from an English family, in 
Oakland, on August 17, 1893. There are two 
children, Miss Barbara, sixteen, and Carlen 
Eugene, eleven. 

There is little doubt but what Mr. Stachler 
will be heard from in the future political his- 
tory of Oakland. 



Albert P. Stiefvater 



397 




A. P. STIEFVATER 
Ex-Councilman 

Courtesy ofVus/inell Photo 



Albert P. Stiefvater 



Ex-Council 



ounciiman 




X official in the recent adminis- 
tration whose broad experience 
in the various walks of life, 
coupled with an unusual knowl- 
edge of the issues before the 
public, has won for him considerable distinc- 
tion is Ex-Councilman Albert P. Stiefvater. 

Mr. Stiefvater is a Native Son, born in San 
Francisco on March 11, 1867. He enjoys an 
excellent education received in the public 
schools of San Francisco and Alameda and 
later at the Wesleyan College of Iowa. He 



took up the study of law in the University of 
Iowa and graduated from that institution in 
1890. 

He began his business career after leaving 
the university with the R. G. Dun Mercantile 
Agency in Chicago, remaining with them two 
years. Soon after this he returned to the 
West and took up newspaper work in Ala- 
meda. His success as a newspaper man is 
well known. In his editorial work and news 
articles be showed marked ability as a force- 
ful and vivid writer, and this, together with 



398 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



his faculty of keeping in close touch with the 
various important issues before the public, 
created a constant demand for his services in 
the field of journalism. 

He has been city editor of both the "Enci- 
nal" and the "Argus," Oakland correspondent 
of the San Francisco "Call," was for some 
time connected with the Oakland "Tribune" 
and was for seven years representative of the 
San Francisco "Bulletin." 

Mr. Stiefvater has always had an unlimited 
capacity for hard work. His duties as a jour- 
nalist were by no means light, but he had no 
intention of neglecting his legal profession, 
and found time to give considerable attention 
to his law office even while engaged in news- 
paper work. That he possesses unusual versa- 
tility is shown from the fact that his success 
as a lawyer has equaled his success as a jour- 
nalist, and it was not long before he was en- 
abled to give up his newspaper work and de- 
vote his entire time to his legal practice. 

In 1909 he was persuaded to accept an ap- 
pointment by Mayor Mott to the City Council, 
to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation 
of J. F. Mullins, and in the following March 
was elected Councilman by the citizens of the 
Third Ward. 

The class of work that Mr. Stiefvater has 
performed for the public in the Council has 
been excelled by no other member of that 
body. He was largely instrumental in secur- 
ing for the public the reduced water rate. He 
was also on the committee that had in hand 
the settlement of matters pertaining to the 
Key Route basin and the granting of fran- 
chises to the Key Route people, which com- 
mittee also obtained a settlement with the 
Southern Pacific regarding the city's control 
of the Oakland mole. He believes that the 
ultimate cost of Oakland's water front will 



easily reach $25,000,000. Bonds have been 
issued for the development of the city's water 
front to the extent of over $3,000,000 so far, 
and he has succeeded in securing a reasonable 
amount to be expended on the western water 
front or Key Route basin. 

Mr. Stiefvater married Miss Wanda Marie 
Gernreich, a native daughter, whose father, 
William Gernreich, is well remembered as a 
prominent merchant of Oakland! The mar- 
riage took place in this city on June 21, 1899. 
There are two children, Arthur E., aged nine, 
and Virginia, aged eight, both attending the 
public schools. His father, Simon Stiefvater, 
was one of the old pioneers of California, 
coming to San Francisco around the Horn in 
1865. He began as a baker in San Francisco 
in the early days and later became a flour 
merchant in that city. His death occurred in 
1901. 

As an example of Mr. Stiefvater's deep and 
sincere interest in the good government and 
welfare of the city we may mention the fact 
that in 1906 he organized the Civic Education 
League, composed of the young men of the 
city, for the purpose of discussing politics, 
current events and the study of public ques- 
tions of importance generally, and he has the 
satisfaction of knowing that many of the mem- 
bers have since become prominent in commer- 
cial and political life. 

Upon the foundation of an excellent educa- 
tion he has since acquired a broad experience 
in many walks of life, first as a business man, 
then as a journalist, and finally as a lawyer, 
and is exceptionally well equipped to do ex- 
cellent work in any office he may be called 
upon to occupy. His work as a public official 
has been entirely free from any selfish inter- 
est. He believes a councilman should act only 
as the instrument of the people and have their 
interests at heart at all times. 



R. C. VosE 



399 



R. C. Vose 



Ex-Council 



ouncilman 



X-COUNCILMAN R. C. VOSE 
Is one of the gentlemen who 
served in the late City Council, 
and it is a well-known fact that 
he made good. His long busi- 
ness experience enabled him to become a valu- 
able acquisition to that body, not only because 



i^m 




he was competent to give an opinion on the 
various issues coming before that body from 
the standpoint of a man of business, but also 
because he is progressive and is always plan- 
ning and working for needed public improve- 
ments. 

As chairman of the Public Improvement 
Committee he has done excellent work, and 
his particular hobby in the Council was good 
streets. He has been an important factor in 
securing the street improvements that have 
been accomplished since he went into office. 
Mr. Vose is also the originator of the ordi- 
nance excluding minors from the poolrooms 
of the city. The need of such an ordinance 
is apparent, as the environment of these re- 



sorts, while not necessarily harmful to adults, 
exerts no beneficial effects on the boys of the 
city, to say the least. 

Mr. Vose is a Native Son, born in Sacra- 
mento on October 6, 1864, and his marriage 
to Miss Martha Campbell took place in San 
Lorenzo, California, on November 21, 1888. 
His father, George H. Vose, Sr., came to Cali- 
fornia in 1851 and was one of the prominent 
pioneers of his time. He settled in Oakland 
soon after his arrival and owned the first 
dairy in the city, on the shores of Lake Mer- 
ritt. 

Mr. Vose is prominent in fraternal circles, 
being a member of the Woodmen of the 
World, Alpha Camp ; Eagles, Women of 
Woodcraft, and the Society of the Cincinnati. 
He is particularly proud of his connection 
with the latter organization, as its member- 
ship is handed down by the generations past 
and is the only American society recognized 
by the nobility of Europe. The society was 
organized by George Washington and his offi- 
cers immediately after the close of the Revo- 
lutionary War, and Mr. Vose's great-great- 
grandfather. Colonel Joseph Vase, of the First 
Massachusetts Regiment, was one of the first 
members. 

Mr. Vose's seven years' experience in the 
auditing department of the Southern Pacific 
Company and the years spent in business for 
himself have proven a valuable asset to him 
in his public work. He has also started a 
system of calling private meetings of citizens 
in sections where improvements were neces- 
sary, explaining the advantages of same, sub- 
mitting the exact details as to costs, etc., and, 
after discussing the matter thoroughl3\ took a 
vote on the plan of action to be adopted and 
submitting same to the Council, thereby sav- 
ing the Council lots of unnecessary work. He 
is for Oakland first, last and all the time. He 
takes particular pride in Oakland's new city 
hall, and states that after an extended trip 
through the Eastern cities, where he had taken 
particular notice of public buildings, he thinks 
Oakland's new city hall is a new departure 
and a marked improvement on any others seen 
in the East. 



400 



(iU\\[\:\' CJaKI AN'll, I'Jll 




HON. GEORGE SAMUELS 
Judge Police Court 

Cour/esy of H'ebs/er Pho/o 



Hon. George Samuels 

Judge Police Court 




N efficient man in the govern- 
ment of the city and one 
who lias a long and clean 
record as a public official is 
George Samuels, Judge of 
the Police Court of the city of Oakland. 

Judge Samuels is a native of England, 
born in Leeds on February 18, 1859. His 
father, Barnet Samuels, who was a pioneer 
resident of Oakland before his death, feel- 
ing that America offered better opportuni- 
ties for himself and children, decided to 
make this country his home, and took up 



his residence in Chicago in 1865, where he 
engaged in business. 

Judge Samuels attended the public 
schools of Chicago as a boy and continued 
his studies there until 1875, when his fam- 
ily moved to Oakland. The Judge engaged 
in the mercantile business in this city in 
his youth, but, being ambitious, he soon 
began to look for a broader field of use- 
fulness. He had always had a leaning 
toward a legal career, and, following his 
natural bent and inclination, entered law 
school. While there he studied hard, and 



Hon. George Samuels 401 

by close application was enabled to make ceive the fnll penalty and this class of 

an excellent showing in his examinations. criminals have reason to fear him. He 

He was admitted to practice by the Su- possesses one characteristic in particular 

preme Court of California in 1898. that has made him many friends and a few 

Judge Samuels commenced the practice enemies and that is his effort to keep his 

of law almost immediately after having court and rulings free from influence, fear 

been admitted to the bar, and soon won or favor, and he has successfully put into 

distinction for his eloquence, his ability in active practice the great fundamental prin- 

argument and his knowledge of the law. ciple, which is so often scoffed at and 

He now occupies a high place as a lawyer which jurists sometimes lose sight of, and 

and jurist. _ that is the American doctrine that "All 

His record as an able attorney led to are equal before the law." 
his appointment, in 1899, as Assistant Dis- Judge Samuels' home life has been a 

trict x\ttorney of Alameda County, and it pleasant one. His marriage to Miss Lilly 

may be said that his public career dates Steen, of Santa Cruz, a native daughter of 

from that time. California, took place in Oakland in 1882. 

In 1903 he accepted the nomination on He has one married daughter, Mrs. Irving 

the Republican ticket for Judge of the Magnes, and two sons. The elder son,. 

Police Court and he was elected at the ]\Iervyn J. Samuels, is a graduate of the 

general election. The character of his University of California and the Hastings 

work on the bench has given thorough College of Law and a promising young 

satisfaction. The best proof of this state- attorney of this city. The second son, 

ment is that the voters have insisted upon Boris L. Samuels, is attending the Oakland 

his return to office at each successive elec- high school. 

lion since his lirst term, and in the di- The Judge is Past Supreme Representa- 
rect primary election of 1910 the people tive of the Knights of Pythias, Past Noble 
again nominated him as the Republican Grand of Oakland Lodge, No. 118, of the 
candidate. At the same primary he was L O. O. F.; Past Grand President of the 
also given the nomination of the Demo- L O. B. B., a member of Alcatraz Chapter 
cratic and Union Labor parties. Royal Arch Masons, a member of Brook- 
In the administration of the law the lyn Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, 
Judge is inclined to be merciful to law Sons of St. George, and a member of the 
Ineakers, but old offenders generally re- Oakland Chamber of Commerce. 



402 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




HON. MORTIMER SMITH 
Judge Police Court 



Hon. Mortimer Smith 

Judge Police Court 




NE of the noticeable men on 
the bench in the Oakland 
courts today is Police Judge 
Mortimer Smith, first, be- 
cause he is probably the 
youngest man that ever has been intrusted 
with the duties of that responsible office, 
and secondly, because during his long 
tenure of office he has shown an efficiency 
and fitness for the position that have rcr 
suited in his re-election time and again. 

Judge Smith is a native of the Keystone 
State, born in Venango County, Pennsyl- 
vania, June 9, 1872. His parents came 
West in 1876, taking up their residence in 



Oakland, so the Judge can claim Oakland 
as his home for thirty-four years, prac- 
tically all his life. 

After a thorough practical education in 
the public schools of the city, he decided 
upon a legal career and began the study 
of law in his father's office. The father, 
James Hume Smith, was one of Oakland's 
foremost lawyers, and under his able tui- 
tion and with a strong natural aptitude for 
legal study, the Judge passed a creditable 
examination, being admitted to the bar 
August 7, 1894. 

As a general practitioner in his profes- 
sion, he handled a number of important 



Hon Mortimer Smith 



403 



cases with exceptional skill, and it was his 
high rating as a rising young lawyer that 
led to his being tendered the nomination 
on the Republican ticket for Judge of the 
Police Court in April. 1898, at the age of 
twenty-six. 

In politics Judge Smith is an active Re- 
publican. He is naturally keenly interested 
in the affairs of the city and is ambitious 
to see it rank among the first cities of the 
country in good government and com- 
mercial prosperity. He is an active mem- 
ber of the Chamber of Commerce and a 
strong advocate of any measure or move- 
ment toward the progress and upbuilding 
of Qakland. 

He has given much study to criminal 
law and to the forces and conditions which 
foster crime. He fully appreciates that our 
present social evils present a problem 
which has not as yet be^n solved by the 
biggest minds in the country, but in his 
administration of justice and in his bench 
decis'ons he has conscientiously sought to 
give everj'one a "square deal" and abso- 



lute justice according to law. 

The Judge is a vigorous young man. 
thoroughly alive, and transacts his busi- 
ness with vim and dispatch. 

He has as wide a circle of friends as 
any man in Oakland. He is a well-known 
figure in many fraternal and charitable or- 
ganizations, being Past President of the 
Eagles, Oakland Aerie, No. 7; member of 
the Nile Club, Oak Leaf Lodge; A. O. U. 
W., No. 35; Woodmen of the World, Oak- 
land Camp No. 94; F. and A. M., Bay 
View Lodge, No. 401, and Elks, Oakland 
Lodge, No. 171. 

Judge Smith married Miss Anna L. Wil- 
liams, well known in social circles. The 
family consists of one son, Mortimer, Jr., 
and one daughter, Lela M. Smith. 

On August 16, 1910, the Judge was re- 
nominated by direct primary vote as Re- 
publican and Democratic nominee for Po- 
lice Judge by a goodly majority, which 
shows conclusively the people's attitude 
concerning his public work. His election 
is a foregone conclusion. 




404 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Ezra W. Decoto 

Prosecuting Attorney 



rARTICULARLV well equip- 
ped attorney in the legal de- 
partment of the city is Ezra 
W. Decoto, Prosecuting At- 
torney for the city of Oak- 
land. Mr. Decoto is a native son, born in 
the town of Decoto, Alameda County, on 





the 6th day of February, 187(>. He comes 
from Scotch-Canadian parentage, his father, 
Ezra Decoto, Sr., having been born at 
Three Rivers, near Montreal, Canada, and 
his mother. Janet Lowrie, being a native 
of Scotland, born in the town of Sterling. 
Mr. Decoto enjoys a thorough and fin- 
ished education. He went through all the 
grades of the grammar school at Decoto 
and the high school at Centerville. He 
entered the University of California in 



1896, graduating from that institution with 
honors in 1900. While in the University 
he won much popularity for his devotion 
to his Alma Mater and his activity in ath- 
letic affairs. He was manager of the Uni- 
versity track team in 1900 and since 1901 
was the graduate manager of all student 
activities until 1906. While at the Univer- 
sity he was a member of the Bachelordon 
Club, the Psi Upsilon Greek letter frater- 
nity and the Golden Bear Honor Society. 

Early in his career Mr. Decoto decided 
upon the legal profession as his particular 
field of usefulness, and entered the Hast- 
ings College of Law of San Francisco, 
graduating in May, 1902. 

After completing his law course, he be- 
gan liis practice in the ofifice of J. B. 
Richardson, one of Oakland's widely known 
attorneys. In 1903 he was appointed as 
first probation ofticer of Alameda County 
and served in that capacitj- until his ap- 
pointment by John Allen, then District At- 
torney, to the office of Prosecuting Attor- 
ney. The ability he has shown in handling 
the cases coming under his jurisdiction, 
his well-known habit of alwaj-s being on 
hand, and his strict attention to his duties 
generally, has insured his reappointment 
to his present ofiice again and again, both 
under the administration of Everett J. 
Brown and William H. Donohue. 

As a lawyer Mr. Decoto possesses a 
keen insight into human nature, is a 
shrewd questioner and has shown marked 
ability in argument. As a man he is con- 
genial and companionable and of unques- 
tioned integrity. With all these assets, 
coupled with perfect health and with su- 
perior physical qualifications. Mr. Decoto 
is bound to be heard from in the future. 

He is a member of Oakland Lodge No. 
171. B. P. O. E.. Live Oak Lodge Xo. 
61, F. & A. M.. and Gethsemane Chapter 
of Rose Croix, No. 2. In politics he has 
alwa3's been an active Republican. 



AoKLiiF.KT Wilson 



405 




ADELBERT WILSON 
Chief of Police 



Adalbert Wilson 

Chief of Police 




ELL worthy of prominent 
mention in these pages is 
the able official now at the 
head of the Oakland Police 
Department, Adelbert Wil- 
son. His service on the police force and 
in police duties covers a period of over 
forty years, and during that long time he 
has made a record for honesty, efficiency 
and faithfulness of which he may well feel 
proud. 

Chief Wilson comes from a New Eng- 



land family and is a native of the State of 
Maine, born in Camden, January 8, 1844. 
When he had secured a good practical 
education in the public schools of his 
home town, as a boy of nineteen, the 
spirit of adventure and achievement was 
strongly developed in him and he decided 
to cut loose from home ties and seek his 
fortune in the West. He arrived in Cali- 
fornia in 1863, long before the railroad 
was completed to the Coast. 

He found his first work with Boswell & 



406 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




o ^ 



Oakland Police Force 



4or 



Geddes, the wholesalers, at Front and Com- 
mercial Streets, San Francisco. In his 
early youth he was perfectly willing to 
turn his hand to any work that was honest 
and profitable. After his first job he went 
into the blacksmithing business, then the 
express business, and, following this, had 
charge of the newspaper routes of the 
"News" and "Transcript" in Oakland. 

On the 30th day of May, 1870, at the 
age of twenty-six, he was appointed special 



was promoted to captain and served in this 
capacity for sixteen years, and finally as a 
just reward for his long service and excel- 
lent record was appointed Chief of Police 
January 2, 1899. Notwithstanding the 
changes in the city's political administra- 
tion the class of work that the Chief has 
done has kept him to the fore, and he 
was appointed Chief on December 20, 1905. 
Recently the title of his office has been 
changed to Superintendent of Police. 



||||^^*v"V*»iiiiiii';:;si)lir Ip' 




New Pope-Hartford M.ichine — A Part of Police Kquipnieut 



police ofticer, serving four years and four 
months. On October .5. 1874, he received 
his appointment to the regular police 
force, being detailed as sergeant on Octo- 
ber 15, 1877. At this time there was great 
political excitement in the well remem- 
bered "Kearney Workingmen's Movement" 
and Officer Wilson and eighteen other of- 
ficers were discharged and reinstated many 
times, according to the rise and fall of the 
political leaders. As an example, on Janu- 
ary 17, 1881. he was reappointed and on 
June 6th was removed again. He was not 
reappointed after his removal on June 6, 
1881, until August 20, 1883, and from this 
time on his connection with the police de- 
partment has been permanent and his ad- 
vancement stead}-. On May 7. 1889, he 



There are no frills about the Chief — he 
cares little about brass buttons and gold 
braid. He has worked his way to the top 
entirely through the faithful and fearless 
performance of his duty and by virtue of 
his experience, his natural ability and his 
familiarity with all branches of the police 
department. 

Chief Wilson was in office when the 
great fire in San Francisco occurred, and 
the burden of handling the immense crowds 
of homeless people who made straight for 
Oakland, accompanied by the usual lawless 
element, fell largely on his shoulders. The 
magnitude of this task can be better appre- 
ciated when it is known that over 200,000 
people arrived in Oakland during three 
days' time. By prompt action in formu- 



408 Greater Oakland, 1911 

lating strict rules and disciplinary meas- on December 19, 1872. Of his three chil- 

ures, Chief Wilson, with a regular force of drcn only one is living, Florence. He 

only seventy-one men, handled the situa- numbers among his personal friends many 

tion in a manner that reflects the highest of the first citizens of Oakland. He is a 

credit upon himself and his men. The thirty-second degree Mason, a Shriner, and 

streets were closed after 6 o'clock at has been an Odd Fellow since February 

night and no person was allowed to pass 13, 1872. 

through the lines without a pass from the Tn the transaction of his liusincss the 

Chief liimself. Chief is methodical and thorough. He is 

During the recent celebration of the en- courteous and obliging to the public and 

trance of the Western Pacific Railroad personally is cordial and open in his con- 

into Oakland he distinguished himself by versation. Since he has been at the head 

the manner in which he controlled a of the department he lias suppressed vice 

crowd of over 100,000 visitors. Through and crime with vigor. He has always 

his precautionary measures in advance of backed up his men in the discharge of 

the occasion, the excellent work of the thej,. ^^^^y -j^^i i^j^ counsel and advice has 

men under him, and his personal diligence j^,^^ „^^,^,,^ ^^^ ^,,^^,,^^^ ^,^^ standard, and 

and inspection where his presence was re- -^ , , , i i , i ■ 

. r 1 • merit has always been rewarded by him. 



On May 30. 1907, Chief Wilson was pre- 



quired in many parts of the city on the 
day of the celebration, the affair passed ofif 

without a hitch and not a single accident ^^"^^^ ''''^^' '' handsome gold shield by the 

was reported members of the Oakland police force as a 

Chief Wilson's marriage to Miss Mary token of esteem and friendship. The Mayor 

E. Poole, of Whitman, Massachusetts (now made a graceful presentation speech at the 

called Abington), took place in Oakland, time. 




Walter Joseph Petersen 



409 




W. J. PETERSEN 
Chief of Detectives 



Walter Joseph Petersen 

Chief of Detectives 



f •*> 



HE life story of Captain Wal- 
ter Joseph Petersen, if he 
could be induced to tell it, 
would probably result in as 
interesting and exciting a 
tale as one could find anywhere. The pub- 
lishers are going to get Joseph in a corner 
some day and make him "give over," as 
the cockneys say, because his story de- 
serves a volume by itself. 

Detective Petersen was a little shy about 
giving the writer of this sketch the ma- 
terial for an adequate biographj', but we 
are going to give such facts as were 
gleaned from him in the brief interview. 



Walter Joseph Petersen was born in 
Jersey City. N. J., on March 14, 1868. 
Coming to California in his early youth, 
he attended the public schools in various 
parts of the State and later entered the 
California Military Academy. 

Mr. Petersen has the blood of the an- 
cient Vikings of Norway in his veins and 
can trace his ancestry back for a thousand 
years. His antecedents, the Petersens of 
hundreds of years ago, at one time owned 
a vast estate on which the thriving city 
of Porsgrund is now located. His for- 
bears have all been followers of the sea, 
and his father before him. Captain Henry 



410 Greater Oakland, 1911 

U. Petersen, was a sea captain. tlie workings of all branches of tlie depart- 
So it is but natural that young Petersen, nient has made liini a very CDnipetent 
as soon as he could finish his education, officer. 

should give ear to the instincts and habits When Captain Petersen assumed his 

of the generations before him. and, as the present duties he took hold of the office 

eagle seeks the air or, more appropriately, with the firm resolution of keeping the 

the duck goes to water. Captain Petersen detective bureau up to a high standard of 

went to sea. efficiency. During his administration some 

His first voyage was on the bark Alon- of the most important and intricate crimi- 

tana where he shipped as cabin boy. Start- nal cases in the history of the country 

ing at the verj' bottom, he soon became have come under his supervision. He has 

familiar with the various workings of the l)een called upon to untangle some very 

ship and was advanced to master of the knotty problems, and there are not many 

schooner San Diego. During his life on instances wherein he has failed to do so. 

the seas he has had many thrilling exper- His wide experience among all classes of 

iences and made many voyages. His prog- people has given him an exceptional oppor- 

ress was rapid, and before his retirement tunity to study human nature. He is not 

he had filled everj- position from common often wrong in weighing people's motives, 

seaman to master of the ship. He is now their weaknesses or their worth, and gen- 

a past master in the art of navigation. erally has been able to extract the truth 

Mr. Petersen is one of those men to from the evidence before him. 

whom open air and exciting activity is a Captain Petersen married young in life, 

necessity, and on December 26, 1895, he his wedding to Miss Florence V. Fisher, 

accepted an ofifer of a position as officer of Marysville. California, taking place in 

on the Oakland police force. For the Oakland on October 20, 1888. His eldest 

faithful and fearless performance of his son, Ulrick K. Petersen, is an electrician 

duty he was appointed sergeant on Janu- with the Oakland Traction Company; his 

ary 12, 1898. and finally to Captain of De- second son, Cedrick W. Petersen, is study- 

tectives on October 1, 1907. ing law, and his youngest son. Roderick 

His appointment seemed to please every- Paul, is attending school in Oakland. 

one at the time, and the subsequent years Mr. Petersen is widely known and well 

have proven that his elevation to the office liked throughout the city. He is a Shriner, 

was as wise and just as it was popular. has taken all the Masonic degrees. Grand 

His service on the force covers a period Master Workman and a member of the 

of fifteen vears. and his familiaritv with Woodmen of the World. 



Court House 



411 




412 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




WILLIAM H. DONAHUE 
District Attorney 

Courtesy of Bushnell Photo 

William H. Donahue 

Di^rid Attorney, Alameda County, California 




F the interviewer liad not the 
bump of continuity strongly 
developed, the reader would 
no doubt have been deprived 
of the pleasure of perusing 
this little sketch of District Attorney Don- 
ahue, because, if we remember correctly, 
it was not until after the sixth attempt 
had been made that the aforesaid inter- 
viewer was able to storm the outer de- 
fenses of the enemy. 



Some men are fussily busy and others 
try to appear busier than it is possible for 
anyone to be, but we will have to admit 
that Mr. Donahue is really, honestly and 
sincerely a busy man. There is probably 
no other county official who shoulders so 
many and varied, responsibilities as does 
the District Attorney. 

Mr. Donahue is a native son, born in 
Mission San Jose on February 13, 1870. 



William H. Donahue 



4irt 



He attended the various public schools of 
Alameda County as a boy and then entered 
Washington College, graduating in the 
class of 1891. He followed teaching for a 
time, part of which period he taught at 
Hopkins Academy, Oakland, and later was 
principal of the Pleasanton schools, which 
position he resigned to take up the prac- 
tice of law. 

Early in life Mr. Donahue decided upon 
the legal profession as his field of useful- 
ness and took up the study of law under 
private tuition, Superior Judge Harris and 
himself pursuing their studies together. In 
1900 the well remembered law firm of 
Harris & Donahue was established and the 
partnership proved a success in every par- 
ticular, ♦the two building up a lucrative 
practice while associated together. 

^Ir. Donahue was first appointed District 
Attorney of Alameda County on Septem- 
ber 29, 1908, by the Board of Supervisors. 
His work in the office for the first two 
j-cars was of such a satisfactory sort that 
in the election of 1910 no one in the 
county wanted to run against him. He 
was nominated by the Democrats as well 
as the Republicans and elected w-ithout 
opposition, polling over 25.000 votes clear 
majority. 

As District Attorney he has handled a 
great many important criminal and civil 
cases with exceptional skill and ability 
wherein there has been required a pro- 
found knowledge of the law. The able 
manner in which he conducted the widely 
known Delancy case won for him a State- 
wide reputation. 

The crime with which he connected De- 
lanc}' was committed while the latter was 
acting as attorney for Public Administrator 
Gray. It consisted of the embezzlement 
of $10,000 from the Hite Cook Estate, 
which, together with other irregularities, 
was unearthed by ]\Ir. Donahue after the 
discovery of the forgery- of the name of 
Undertaker E. J. Finney to a claim against 
the estate of the late A. L. Pounstone, a 
G. A. R. veteran who died in the County 
Infirmary and whose body was interred in 
the potter's field. There were eight indict- 
ments against Delancy for alleged crimes 
committed as attorney for the Public Ad- 
ministrator. 



This case was fought in the courts for 
weeks, and Donahue, after a skillful exami- 
nation of all witnesses, bringing out the 
most damaging evidence, finished the case 
with a masterly address to the jury, which, 
though convincing to the last degree, was 
free from malice or vindictiveness, and he 
secured a conviction for the people. 

In meeting Mr. Donahue one is first im- 
pressed by his alertness, his direct and ag- 
gressive methods of getting right down to 
the facts of a case and, what is more un- 
usual, the genuine and hearty good humor 
with which he transacts his business. His 
actions bespeak the man who is "glad to 
l)e alive" and ready and even eager for all 
the work that i"t is incumbent upon him 
to do. 

He has gathered about him an able and 
energetic corps of assistants, and the busi- 
ness of the department is transacted in 
perfect harmony, without friction or con- 
fusion. 

The able manner in which Mr. Donahue 
conducted the recent Dalton bribery case 
is known by everyone in this part of the 
country. Judge Brown established a prece- 
dent in Alameda County by commending 
the District Attorney from the bench, as 
well as Assistant District Attorney Hynes 
and the members of the Grand Jury. 
Judge Brown said, "I understand that offi- 
cials should do their duty without com- 
mendation, yet as a public official I would 
feel remiss in my duty if I let pass unno- 
ticed the splendid work accomplished in 
the Dalton case. The people of the county 
are to be congratulated upon having men 
in office like District Attorney Donahue, 
and Mr. Donahue is to be congratulated 
in liaving an assistant like Mr. Hynes." 

There is no office in the count}- upon 
which rests a greater responsibility and 
which calls for greater legal and executive 
ability than that of the District Attorney. 
The record of Mr. Donahue's administra- 
tion may well stand as a new standard of 
efficiency for all future district attorneys 
to follow. 

Mr. Donahue's marriage to Aliss Anna 
Green, daughter of Ex-Supervisor John 
Green of Alameda County, took place in 
San Francisco on February ^5, 1806. 



414 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Hon. Everett J. Brown 

Judge of the Superior Court 



VERETT J. BROWN, Judge 
of the Superior Court of Ala- 
meda County, enjoys the dis- 
tinction of being the young- 
est judge on the bench, and, 
what is more to the point, his administra- 
tion of the law has been of a character 





tliat has won for Iiim a high place as a 
jurist and as a man among his colleagues 
rind the public at large. 

He attended the grammar schools of 
Oakland as a boy and graduated from the 
high school in 1894. He completed his 
education at the University of California 
wliere he made an excellent record, gradu- 
ating with the degree of Ph. B. in 1898, at 
the age of twenty-one. 

There was no hesitation or argument 
with himself in the choosing of a profes- 
sion. He had made up his mind to become a 



lawyer before hi.s graduation, and promptly 
enrolled himself as a student in the Hast- 
ings College of Law, affiliated with the 
University of California. He supplemented 
his studies at college by practical exper- 
ience in the offices of Hon. Victor H. Met- 
calf. where he remained until the latter'.s 
appointment to Ex-President Roosevelt's 
cabinet. He was unusually well equipped 
for his future career. 

Admitted to the bar in 1901, he immedi- 
ately began practice in Oakland and skil- 
fully conducted several important cases. 
Having attracted considerable attention as 
a rising young attorney, he received the 
appointment as Deputy District Attorney 
of Alameda County in 1903. After serving 
out his appointment as deputy, where his 
record had secured for him the nomination 
on the Republican ticket for District At- 
torney, he was elected to that office by a 
good majority. About two years of his 
term had expired when he was elected to 
the Superior bench of Alameda County, 
which office he now occupies. 

Judge Brown is an alert, active and vig- 
orous young man who is never willing to 
compromise in a matter involving a prin- 
ciple, but withal he is courteous and sym- 
pathetic in his relations with his associate-- 
and the public, and outside of court con- 
ducts himself like the cheerful, unselfish 
and altogether likeable young man that he 
is. He seems to have learned by precept 
and example what most men have to learn 
by experience, and that is probably one of 
the reasons why he finds himself in his 
present high office at the age of thirty 
three. 

Judge Brown's marriage to Miss Wini- 
fred L. Osborne took place in Oakland 
in 1905, and he is the father of one little 
girl. His mother, Matilda Brown, has 
been known for many years for her va- 
rious charitable and philanthropic enter- 
prises in Oakland. 



Hon. John Ellsworth 



415 




Hon. John Ellsworth 

Judge of the Superior Court 




UPERIOR JUDGE JOHN 
ELLSWORTH may well be 
termed the dean of the legal 
fraternity of Alameda County. 
His residence in this county 
cover.s a period of nearly forty-five years, 
and he has been prominent as a lawyer 
and jurist for a quarter of a century. He 
has established a record that few public 
men can equal, not only for continued pub- 
lic service, but for the able and faithful 
manner in which he has performed the 
duties entrusted to him. 



Judge Ellsworth was born in East Win- 
sor, Connecticut, on January 7, 1842. His 
father before him, A. M. Ellsworth, who 
died when the Judge was about four years 
old, was a native of the same town. Judge 
Ellsworth worked on a farm as a boy at- 
tending the public schools when he could 
and living the same rugged life, full of 
hard work, but accompanied by the health- 
ful influences that have been the environ- 
ment of so many of America's successful 
men. 

When the Judge was little more than a 



416 



Greatek Oakland, 191] 



boy the country was stricken by the mem- 
orable Civil War and he showed his pa- 
triotism by enlisting in the Twenty-fifth 
Connecticut Regiment. He was in service 
in Louisiana under General Hanks and was 
present at the surrender of Fort Hudson, 
after a siege of six weeks. 

After an honorable discharge* from the 
army. Judge Ellsworth took up his studies 
at Phillips Academy, at Andover, Massa- 
chusetts. With the view of a legal career 
in mind, he entered Williams College, elim- 
inating the first three years' course and 
taking the final course, which permitted 
Iiim to lake up the studies which would 
aid him in his future work. 

He took up the study of law at Hart- 
ford, Connecticut, and was admitted to the 
bar in that city in October, 1867. With the 
pioneer spirit strongly developed and be- 
lieving that a new country offered better 
opportunities for a young man, he de- 
cided to cast his fortunes with the West, and 
left Hartford in November, 18(57, for Cali- 
fornia. 

He began his practice of law in Alameda 
County soon after his arrival and has re- 
sided here ever since. He gradually built 
up a good private practice. He became 
City Attorney of Alameda in 1876 and was 
continually returned to that office after his 
election, serving in all ten years. He was 
then elected to the Assembly and acted as 
Assemblyman for two years. 

In 1889 he accepted the nomination for 
Superior Judge of Alameda County and 
was elected. He has been re-elected time 



and again; the public is so well satisfied 
with Judge Ellsworth that it has not been 
willing to let him retire. For twenty-one 
years he has interpreted the law for Ala- 
meda Count}-, and lie has found a firm 
place in the hearts of the people. He has 
come to be looked upon as a permanent 
fixture, even as the old Court House itself. 

Tlic Judge believes in severe sentences 
for hardened criminals. He said in an in- 
terview: "These old-time offenders ought 
to be behind prison bars and should get 
severe sentences, as they are a menace to 
society and have no regard for life or 
property. I am not inclined to make any 
set rules, however, but endeavor to try 
each particular case on its own merits, 
with due consideration for surrounding 
circumstances. I think the mild and pro- 
bationary methods of the Juvenile Court 
exert an excellent influence on the young 
offender, and prevent many from becoming 
habitual criminals. This movement de- 
serves encouragement.' 

Judge Ellsworth married Ada L. Hoblei 
of English family, in Alameda, April 17, 
1891, and suffered a severe loss in her 
death which occurred April 15, 1906. He 
has no children. 

We congratulate the Judge on his splen- 
did record. Although nearly seventy years 
of age and an active brain worker for 
years, he thinks as clearly as he ever did 
in his life and seems to have an undimin- 
ished capacity for work. It is hoped that 
Alameda County will not be deprived of 
his services for many years to come. 




Hon. Thomas William Harris 



417 




HON. THO.MAS WILLIAM HARIRIS 

JUDGK SUPKRIOR Coi'RT 



Hon. Thomas William Harris 

Judge Superior Court 




N important member of the 
judiciary of the city who has 
become widely known as a 
well-read lawyer of unusual 
attainments, and a man of ex- 
ceptional virility and force, who has shown 
marked fidelity to public trusts as a jurist, 
is Thomas William Harris, Judge of the 
Superior Court of Alameda County. 

Judge Harris is a native of Minnesota, 
born in the town of Chatfield, on the 1st 
day of October, 1859. His father, William 
Harris, whose health had been impaired by 
the severe winters of that region, and be- 
lieving also that the family's fortunes would 



be enhanced in the new Western country, 
decided to make his future home in the land 
{if sunshine and opportunity. The family ar- 
rived in California in 1867, before the com- 
pletion of the trans-continental railroad, the 
judge being at that time eight j'ears of age. 
Because his father was frequently in poor 
health, and he was the eldest in the family 
as well as the only son. Judge Harris early 
began assuming responsibilities and helping 
his parents and sisters. His early education 
was gleaned from numerous county schools 
in the dififerent towns where the family re- 
sided, and he completed the grammar school 
course in Pleasanton, California. He added 



418 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



to that a thorough course in hookkeeping, 
which he studied evenings. After leaving 
scliool he assisted his parents in various ways 
for a couple of years, and then became his 
father's partner in the livery stal)le business 
in Pleasanton. As a young man, he kept a 
sharp lookout for opportunities, and when 
he could better his position he did so. His 
fortunes continued to improve, not by leaps 
and bounds, but normally and steadily until 
he and his father sold their livery stable 
and bought a warehouse business. In this 
his success was so marked that he was 
offered the position of manager of the 
Chadbourne Warehouse Company, in Pleasan- 
ton, California, and for his ability and in- 
tegrity was retained in this capacity for a 
period of eight years. 

He had been a Notary Public for some 
years, and, on giving up his position with 
the warehouse company, he took up the 
study of law with Mr. W. H. Donahue, the 
present District Attorney of Alameda County. 
After having been admitted to the bar in 
1897, he began the active practice of law 
in Pleasanton, California. 

In 1899 he accepted an appointment as 
Deputy in the District Attorney's office. In 
this capacity the manner in which he con- 
ducted the cases under his supervision add- 
ed materially to his reputation as a lawyer, 
and he showed exceptional ability in his 
analysis and power of conviction in argu- 
ment. His record in this office and his stand- 



ing in the community in his profession led 
to his appointment to the Superior Bench 
in 190,5, by Governor Pardee. 

Judge Harris bears an excellent reputation 
for clean and unbiased decisions during his 
term on the bench. He is never hasty in 
his rulings or decisions, but studies well the 
conditions before him with due consideration 
for both sides in the controversy, and his 
conservative manner of administering jus- 
tice with strict regard for the law has given 
him the confidence of the public. 

Judge Harris married Miss Leta Neal, of 
Pleasanton, California, on October 21st, 1883, 
whose death occurred in Oakland in 1903. 
His second marriage took place in this city 
on February 11th, 1909, to Mary E. Slipp. 
The Judge has two sons by his first wife. 
The elder son, Neal Harris, is a graduate of 
the University of California, and the younger 
son, Myron, attending the same institution. 
having inherited his father's splendid 
physique, is a famous athlete. He recently 
made a trip to Australia with the All- 
American Football Team. 

Personally, the Judge is a fine specimen 
of manhood, well over six feet in height. 
He talks easily and quietly, is very con- 
servative in his statements, thinking well be- 
fore he speaks, and impresses one as a man 
with plenty of reserve power. His career 
has not been meteoric, but his progress has 
been forceful, steady and permanent, and 
he is not the kind of a man to go back. 




Hon. Frank B. Ogden 



419 



Hon. Frank B. Ogden 

Judge Superior Court 



MOXG other things Judge 
Frank B. Ogden is notable 
because he enjoys the dis- 
tinction of having served a 
longer continuous term as 
Judge of the Superior Court than any other 
man on the bench, except Judge Ellsworth, 





and that is saying a good deal, as the lat- 
ter has been Superior Judge for twenty- 
one years. Judge Ogden is a close second, 
however, with eighteen years to his credit, 
and fully deserves the continued confidence 
and respect the community has given him. 

He has made an excellent official at 
every stage of his career, and has so com- 
pletely disarmed opposition that his re- 
election to office is generally conceded. 

Judge Ogden is a native of \ew Jersey, 
born in the city of Newark on April 26, 
1858. His parents came to California in 
1870, when the Judge was a lad of twelve. 



and he has lived here practically all his 
life. 

After attending the public schools, he 
decided to follow the legal profession as 
his field of usefulness and studied law in 
San Francisco, being admitted to the bar 
in 1882. After practicing two years, his 
work in the various courts showed him to 
be a skilful young attorney, possessed of a 
pretty thorough knowledge of the law. 
That he was attracting public attention is 
evidenced by the fact that in 1886, at the 
age of twenty-eight, he was elected to the 
bench in the Justice Court, where he 
served six years. 

In February, 1892, because of his clean 
record, his efficiency, and the general pub- 
lic satisfaction with which his administra- 
tion of justice had been received, he was 
appointed by Governor Markham to the 
Superior Court of Alameda County. 

New Office Was Created. 

There is little to saj^ concerning Judge 
Ogden's career on the bench that the pub- 
lic does not already know. His public 
work is like an open book, and his inter- 
pretation of the law, his understanding of 
equity in complicated cases and his correct 
rulings, free from prejudice or favor, have 
made him an ideal judge. The people of 
Alameda County appreciate this kind of an 
administration; that is the reason they 
have insisted upon keeping him on the 
bench for nearly a quarter of a century. 

Judge Ogden is a man of retiring and 
modest nature, who assumes very little, but 
who wins the admiration and loyalty of his 
friends by the strength and dignity of his 
character and the disinterestedness of his 
motives. He is pre-eminently a man of 
judicial temperament, careful, conscientious 
and of open mind. 

Judge Ogden has four children. Mar- 
guerite, Clarence, Rosalie and Frank; the 
first a graduate of the University of Cali- 
fornia, the second two children now at- 
tending the university, and the youngest in 
the Oakland High School. 



420 



Greater Oakland, I9ll 




HON. WILLIAM HARRISON WASTE 
Judge Superior Court 

CoutUiy oj Bushncll Photo 



Hon. William Harrison Waste 

Judge Superior Court 




NE of the members of • the 
Superior Court Judiciary 
whose career provides a 
story of more than passing 
interest is Judge William H. 
Waste. His broad experience in several 
walks of life has given him an exceptional 
equipment for his judicial duties. 

Judge Waste is a native son, born in 
Chico, California, on October 31, 1868. He 
began his education in the schools of 
Butte County, later attended the Los An- 
ge'es High School, and finally entered the 
University of California, graduating in 



1891, and in 1894 from the Hastings Col- 
lege of the Law. 

His father, Mr. J. J. Waste, was one of 
the early pioneers of California, settling in 
the northern part of the State in 1851. 
The elder Waste carried on a mercantile 
business in the earlj^ days and became a 
prominent citizen and an acti\'c man in 
public affairs before his death. He was for 
a time member of the Board of Supervisor.- 
in' Butte County. 

Judge Waste was left an orphan at an 
early age, and was cared for and brought 
up by an uncle and aunt. The Judge can 



Hon. William Harrison Waste 



421 



scarcely remember the time when he did 
not want to be a lawyer. 

Judge Waste was a versatile young man, 
and when, after graduating from the uni- 
versity, he found it necessary to earn some 
mcjjey before he could fulfil his ambition 
to be a lawyer, he found work as a re- 
porter for the newspapers in San Francisco 
and Oakland, and from these earnings he 
war enabled to pay for his own legal edu- 
cation. 

With two other graduates from Berke- 
ley, he went to work on the San Francisco 
"Ixaminer" under Mr. T. T. Williams, 
w:io i.' the present manager for Hearst's 
Xew York papers. His friends soon tired 
of the work and quit, but the Judge's usual 
tenacity of purpose was made apparent to 
his employers, because he stuck to his 
work, and made good. He was soon of- 
fered a better position with the Oakland 
"Tribune" by Mr. A. M. Lawrence, now 
managing editor for the Chicago "Ameri- 
can," which he accepted. During his career 
as a journalist, he became known for his 
fluent style as a writer and his faculty of 
keeping in close touch with public issues 
and events. He considers his experience 
as an interviewer and reporter a valuable 
asset in his subsequent career as a lawyer 
and judge. 

After his admittance to the bar. Judge 
Waste took up the practice of law in Oakland, 
and it was not long before his legal business 



eliminated the necessity of doing newspaper 
work. 

In 1902 he was nominated and elected on 
the Republican ticket for member of the As- 
sembly. His excellent work as Assemblyman 
was due to his broad views and special knowl- 
edge of the issues before that body. As an 
endorsement of his efforts and accomplish- 
ments in the Assembly he was re-elected for 
a second term. 

His appointment to the Superior Bench in 
April, 1905, by Governor Pardee was a wise 
one and met with popular approval, and this 
feeling of public satisfaction is increasing as 
time passes. 

Judge Waste possesses strong personal mag- 
netism and is an excellent judge of human 
nature. He is a shrewd questioner and has a 
great faculty of extracting information from 
those who have no intention of giving it. 
These qualities have largely contributed 
to his success as a lawyer and have been in- 
strumental in making him one of the best 
judges on the bench. 

He has broad sympathies, has time to think 
of "the other fellow" and in his manner and 
disposition is cordial and companionable. He 
is a Shriner, Knight Templar and a member 
of the Native Sons and the Athenian Club. 

He married Miss Mary Ewing, of Oakland, 
September 16, 1896, and has a daughter and a 
son. He thoroughly enjoys outdoor life, and 
when able to lay aside his official duties, finds 
pleasant diversion in a boating or hunting trip 
with his boy. 




:> 



422 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Hon. William S. Wells 

Judge Superior Court 




UDGE WILLIAM S. WELLS, 
who is at present presiding in 
Department 4 of the Superior 
Court of Alameda County, en- 
joys the distinction of being 
the first Superior Judge in the county to re- 
ceive the Republican nomination for that 
office direct from the people, when on August 
16th, 1910, he received a handsome majority 
at the direct primary election. 

Superior Judge William S. Wells was born 
on June 24, 1861, in Fairfield, Solano County, 
California. He comes from old New England 
stock, and has inherited the qualities that gen- 
erally lead to success. 

His father, William S. Wells, was a native 
of the State of Maine, coming to California 
in January, 1850, and was one of the sturdy 
pioneers who helped to make California what 
it is. The elder Wells settled in Solano 
County, and successfully practiced law there 
and later in San Francisco. He was a resi- 
dent of Oakland at the time of his death 
which occurred on Christmas Day. December 
25, 1878. 

Although deprived of a father's advice and 
guidance at a period in his life when they 
were most needed, the force of his good ex- 
ample and sterling qualities were not lost on 
the son, as his subsequent career has so 
clearly shown. 

Judge Wells enjoys an excellent and finished 
education. He received his rudimentary in- 
struction in the public schools. He then en- 
tered St. Augustine College, at Benicia. and 
finally rounded out his education at the Uni- 
versity of California. Making the most of 
his opportunities and his natural abilities, he 
has become a leading exponent of his profes- 
sion and an esteemed citizen of the munici- 
pality. 

The Judge, after his admittance to the bar 
in 1884, began his practice in Contra Costa 
County, California. He had inherited a nat- 
ural aptitude for the law and his success in 



his profession was almost immediate. He re- 
ceived the appointment of Assistant District 
Attorney of Contra Costa County in 1886, 
serving in that capacity for four years. His 
record in that office led to his appointment 
as Judge of the Superior Court in that county 
on January 26, 1899, in place of Joseph P. 
Jones, deceased. He was afterward elected 
to fill the unexpired term and again for the 
full term which expired in January. 1909. 
Judge Wells was appointed to the Superior 
Court of Alameda County upon the passage 
of the law, on April 8, 1909, creating an addi- 
tional judge in Alameda County, and since 
his installation as judge he has won the 
approval and respect of the community for 
his fair disposition and just rulings. As a 
judge of the probate department of the Su- 
perior Court, where many complicated and 
intricate points of law are coming before him, 
he has shown a thorough knowledge of the 
law and a sound judgment which only long 
experience and careful study of his profession 
can produce. 

Judge Wells might aptly be termed "William 
the Silent," he is so quiet and unassuming. 
Without any unnecessary waste of words he 
gets to the point of a proposition and has 
done with it. There is little friction in his 
court because His Honor's brain is in perfect 
working order and he knows the law. 

His home life is ideal. His marriage to 
Miss Ella O'Neil, which occurred in Oakland 
on November 4, 1885, has been entirely a suc- 
cess. He has two children, one son, William 
S. Wells, Jr., a young man of twenty-three, 
who is a graduate of the University of Cali- 
fornia and now studying law, and one daugh- 
ter, Ella M. Wells, sixteen years of age. who 
is a student at the Oakland high school. 

Judge Wells stands high in fraternal circles, 
being Past Grand Master of the Masonic fra- 
ternity, member of the Native Sons, Wood- 
men of the World and several clubs. 



Hon. William R. Geary 



423 



Hon. William R. Geary 

Justice of the Peace, Brooklyn Township 



ILLIAM R. GEARY, the young 
Justice of Brooklyn Township, 
has arrived at the present suc- 
cessful point in his career be- 
cause he has appreciated the 

value of hard conscientious work as the surest 

road to fortune. 





He was born in Oakland on September 25, 
1876, and has lived here all his life, and natur- 
ally takes great pride in its rapid growth and 
development. He received his education in 
the public schools of the city, but had to leave 
school at the early age of fourteen to make 



his own way in the world. He worked for 
George Smith, the druggist on Twelfth Street, 
for a time, and then for V. R. Cragin in the 
truck business and later was with a firm en- 
gaged in a similar business in Sacramento for 
nearly three years. 

He studied law in the offices of the late 
John E. McElroy for about three years and in 
conjunction with this received special tuition 
from John Goss, instructor of law. 

In 1898 he became associated with the Ho- 
gan Lumber Company of this city, where he 
remained until his election to his present 
office. The Republican candidates had been 
defeated many times in this district, and the 
Judge clearly demonstrated his popularity in 
his first election. That the public has appre- 
ciated his administration of the law is shown 
when it is stated that he has been re-elected 
for three successive terms, the last time, be- 
fore the direct primary law, receiving the 
nominations of practically all the parties. Dem- 
ocratic, Republican and Union Labor. He is 
active in politics and a hard and consistent 
worker for good government. 

On April 28, 1896, Judge Geary married 
Miss Adelaide S. Derby, a daughter of one 
of the pioneer tanners of Alameda County. 
They have four children, Edwin W., aged 
twelve ; Henry T., ten ; Mildred E., eight, 
and George A., three. Mildred is attending 
the Lake Convent and the two boys are attend- 
ing school at St. Anthony's Parish. The 
Judge's father, Maurice Geary, was a Civil 
War veteran and a popular old-time resident 
of Oakland. 

Judge Geary is a member of the Eagles, 
Woodmen of the World, 101; Knights of 
Columbus, 784, and several clubs. 



424 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




HON. THOS. J. POWER 

Justice of the Peace 

Washington Township 



Hon. Thomas J. Power 

Justice of the Peace, Washington Township 




UDGE THOMAS J. POWER, 
who has served two terms in 
the Justice Court in Washing- 
ton Township, has been a fac- 
tor in civic improvements and 
growth of the town and (Hstrict in which he 
lives, and there is every indication that he 
will be heard from in the future political his- 
tory of the county. 

Judge Power is a product of California, 
born in Santa Clara County on December 1, 
1869. He attended the public schools of Ala- 
meda County as a boy and later attended 
Washington College. After completing his 
education he went farming in this county. He. 
.studied law at home, and by close application 
and unusual tenacity of purpose, coupled with 
a natural adaptability for the legal profession, 
was enabled to pass a creditable examination 
in April. 1897. when he was admitted to the 
bar. 

In 190:! lie was elected on llic Democratic 
ticket as Justice for Washington Township. 



and was re-elected for a second term. He is 
president of the Irvington Chamber of Com- 
merce and takes an active interest in all public 
improvements in his district. He is now en- 
gaged in the practice of law in Irvington and 
has built up a lucrative legal business. 

Judge Power's marriage to Miss Margaret 
Cushing occurred in Mission San Jose on No- 
vember 10, 1897. They have one son. Thomas 
W.. aged six years. The Judge's father. John 
Power, was one of the early pioneers of Cali- 
fornia, coming to the Coast by way of the 
Isthmus, and was one of the well-known min- 
ing men of his time. Tlic elder Power died 
at W^arm Springs in 1S9 4. The Judge's 
brother, M. E. Power, was District Attorney 
of Tulare County and is now a meml)er of 
the law firm of Power & McFadzcan. 

Judge Power is a memlicr of the Woodmen 
of the World, United Artisans and U. P. C. 
In politics the Judge says he is a Democrat — 
and proud of it. 



Hall of Records 



425 




426 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



M. J. Kelly 

County Treasurer 



more sterling and honored 
citizen can be found in Alameda 
County than County Treasurer 
M. J. Kelly. Everyone who has 
come in contact with him, either 
in a business way or socially, has the warmest 
praise for him, and of no man can it more 





truthfully be said that his word is as good as 
his bond. 

As a private citizen he is noted for his 
kindly disposition and his desire to help when- 
ever and wherever he can. A bachelor him- 
self, with a strong friendship for boys, he has 
informally adopted any number of them, and 
they have largely been those that perhaps a 
good many would not consider desirable. They 
have been young men that have lacked many 
of the advantages of birth, education and fa- 
vorable environment, but the more they lacked 



the more Mr. Kelly felt they needed a guiding 
hand — a little help at the right time. 

Mr. Kelly is a native of West Virginia, 
born in Benwood on April 27, 1864. Coming 
to California as a boy he began life as a nail 
maker's apprentice and soon mastered the de- 
tails of the trade. In 1894 he was tendered a 
position in the United States Mint in San 
Francisco. He was thirteen years in the mint 
and rose step by step to the position of humid 
assayer, which he held up to the time of his 
appointment as Treasurer. It was during 
these years that he established an enviable 
record for honesty, reliability and efficiency, 
and the Mint officials could not say too much 
in his favor at the time of his resignation to 
take up his broader work. 

In March, 1906, he was appointed by the 
Board of Supervisors to the office of County 
Treasurer to fill the unexpired term of A. W. 
Feidler, whose death occurred about that 
time, and has since filled that office with char- 
acteristic efficiency. The first thing he did 
upon taking office was to institute certain 
needed reforms and correct the loose methods 
prevailing in the past. Although not required 
by law to do so, he regularly accounts to the 
Supervisors and Auditor for the trust funds 
in his charge, thus rendering impossible 
breaches of trust or perversion of such funds. 
This is one of the many innovations that Mr. 
Kelly has inaugurated and the office is now 
conducted along the most approved and busi- 
nesslike methods. Any person at any time is 
welcome to inspect the books, and there is yet 
to be made one complaint that anyone entering 
the office is not treated with utmost courtesy 
by both Mr. Kelly and those that make up the 
personnel of his staff. 

During the last primary election, Mr. Kelly's 
excellent work resulted in his receiving the 
Republican, Democratic and Union Labor 
nominations for his present office — something 
quite unusual — and his re-election last No- 
vember was, of course, a foregone conclusion. 



E. F. Garrison 



427 




E. F. GARRISON 
County Auditor 

Courtesy of Dorsas Photo 



E. F. Garrison 

County Auditor 




R. E. F. GARRISON, who was 
nominated and elected County 
Auditor in the fall of 1910, fully 
deserves the success that has 
come to him. While a com- 
paratively young man, being still in his thir- 
ties, he has had plenty of business experience, 
is progressive, energetic and a young man of 
sterling principles. 

Mr. Garrison's father came to California 
in 1871 and first settled in Sacramento. He 
was connected with the Southern Pacific Com- 



pany as engineer for over thirty-two years. 
His death occurred in Oakland in 1904. 

Mr. Garrison is a native son, born in Sac- 
ramento on September 7, 1873. The family 
took up its residence in Oakland when he was 
a child of five and he has lived here ever 
since, a matter of thirty-two years. After 
going through the public schools here he fin- 
ished his education at St. Mary's College. He 
has always had to make his own way in the 
world, his first position being with the Cali- 
fornia Door Company, where he started at 



428 



Gkeatkr Oakland, 1911 



the very bottom. Being ambitious and atten- 
tive to his work, he soon mastered the details 
of tlie Inisiness and rose, step by step, tirst to 
timekeeper, before he was out of his teens, 
'and finally to estimator. It was in tliis posi- 
tion that he laid the foundation of his present 
expert knowledge in accounting. 

In November. 1900, he received tlio ai)point- 
ment of Deputy City Assessor and Auditor 
under Mr. A. H. Breed, where he did efficient 
work for ten years, up until the time of his 
election to his present office. 

Mr. Garrison has always been a stanch 
worker for the success of his party, with a 
strong friendly feeling for the wage-earner. 
Since his installation as County Auditor he 
has thoroughly systematized the work of his 
office. Each man has his work mapped out 
for him and does it with promptness and dis- 
patch, and the public appreciates the fact that 
citizens do not have to wait around a day or 
two for information on matters related to this 
department. Mr. Garrison says that he is am- 
bitious to have his office the best conducted 
Auditor's office in the State, and we believe 
he has already realized his ambition. He has 
selected a staff of assistants whose past busi- 
ness experience has especially fitted them for 
their present duties, and they are so courteous 



that it is a pleasure to do business with the 
office. 

Something like 50,000 warrants for salaries 
and other expenditures go through Mr. Gar- 
rison's hands during the year and no funds 
are paid out without his signature. The great 
responsibilities of his position are easily ap- 
parent, and taxpayers may rest assured that 
Mr. Garrison will thoroughly scrutinize all 
warrants for the expenditure of pulilic funds 
before affixing his signature and O. K. 

Mr. Garrison is an active fraternal man, 
being a member of the Maccabees, Oakland 
Tent No. 17, also State Auditor of Pacific 
jurisdiction of the same order; member of 
Elks, Oakland Lodge No. 171 ; Native Sons, 
Athens Parlor No. 195 ; has been financial 
secretary of N. S. G. W. for the past nine 
years, chairman State Board of Relief and 
treasurer of Native Sons Hall Association. 
He is a member of the Y. M. C. A., U. P. E. 
C, No. 13, and financial secretary of the Na- 
tional Union, Live Oak Council No. 1102. 

In addition to his other likeable qualities, 
Mr. Garrison is congenial, sympathetic and 
friendly in his attitude toward the world and 
has made many firm friends. It would indeed 
be difficult for the citizens of the county to 
improve on its present County Auditor. 




IIox. Charles Frederick Horner 



429 




CHAS. FREDERICK HORXER 
County Assessor 

Courtesy of Sushiiell Photo 



Hon. Charles Frederick Horner 

County Assessor 




ROUXTY ASSESSOR 

CHARLES F. HORXER de- 
serves the approbation and 
good will that he has always 
received from the common- 
wealth of Alameda Count}-. His tireless 
efforts and conscientious work in behalf 
of progress and general public improve- 
ment, particularly in regard to the better- 
ment of the roads and public highways, 
have brought his name prominently to the 
fore. Improvements along these lines have 
had his particular attention as a member 



of the Board of Supervisors, and it is 
largel}^ through his influence that the pub- 
lic enjoj's its excellent system of roads. 

Mr. Horner is a native son, born in Irv- 
ington, Alameda Count}', in X'ovember, 
18.59. He received his early education in 
the public schools of the county and 
rounded out his learning at Washington 
College. Early in his career he became 
interested in the business of refining sugar, 
and Mr. Horner has expert knowledge of 
this business from study and practical ex- 
perience in its every branch and depart- 



430 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



ment. He was manager for a good many 
years of one of the largest sugar planta- 
tions in the Hawaiian Islands, located at 
La Haina Plada. Starting in with a very 
modest position at this plantation, he ex- 
hibited such business acumen and earned 
such a reputation for integrity and respon- 
sibility that he soon won the confidence 
of the capitalists who had invested in the 
enterprise and was steadily advanced until 
he was given full supervision of this big 
property. 

While in the Hawaiian Islands he was 
elected member of the Legislature under 
the reform movement, serving during the 
years 1887 and 1888. 

Mr. Horner was elected member of the 
Board of Supervisors of Alameda County 
in 1900, and so fully and ably did he repre- 
sent the will of the people that he was not 
allowed to retire since that time, having 
served on the board for eleven years. 
Aside from his work for good roads, he 
was a strong advocate for better bridges 
and succeeded, among other things, in ob- 
taining for the county the modern steel 
bridge in Niles Canyon, completed about 
a year ago. 

Mr. Horner enjoyed his work on the 
Board, which was shown by his regular 
and prompt attention to public business 
and the energy with which he attacked his 
work. As the presiding member of the 



Board he always showed courtesy and fair 
ness to petitioners, his fellow Board mem 
bers and the public at large. 

In .\ugust, 1911, after the convicition of 
Henry P. Dalton, County Assessor, the 
Board of Supervisors appointed Mr. Hor- 
ner to succeed him. The appointment was 
a popular one, and everyone conceded 
that he was the right man for this respon- 
sible office. Mr. Horner will no doubt 
make an excellent County Assessor. 

During his long residence in the county 
he has become well known socially as well 
as politically. His father before him, the 
late John M. Horner, was one of the well- 
known figures in the pioneer days of Cali- 
fornia. He came to this Coast around the 
Horn in '49, and was an active man, prom- 
inently identified with the development of 
San Francisco in the early days. He laid 
out the first addition to the city of San 
Francisco, known as Horner's Addition, 
and also owned or controlled about 213,- 
000 acres of land in the State. 

The present County Assessor is one of 
the best known fraternal men in the 
county. He takes an active interest in the 
various fraternal organizations and is him- 
self a Mason, Knight Templar, member of 
the Elks, Odd Fellows, Woodmen of the 
World, U. P. E. C, Knights of Pythias, 
Druids, and the Xile Club of Oakland. 




James Burton Barber 



431 




JAMES B. BARBER 
County Tax Collector 



James Burton Barber 

County Tax Collector 




STERLING man in the gov- 
ernment of Alameda County, 
whose public service covers a 
period of nearly twenty-five 
years, is County Tax Col- 
lector James B. Barber. 

Mr. Barber's parents were married in the 
state of Iowa. His father, A. S. Barber, 
was one of those virile characters who 
have so deservedly been called the "con- 
querors of the West." He believed in the 
opportunities and future of California, and 
in 1849, long before there was any trans- 
continental railroad, began the dangerous 
journey across the plains with a pair of 
oxen as motive power. The family settled 



in Alameda County, where the elder Bar- 
ber established a profitable grocery busi- 
ness. He was one of the first postmasters 
of Alameda. His death occurred in 1896, 
at the ripe old age of eighty. 

The present Tax Collector was born in 
Marysville, California, on November 9, 
1850, and attended the schools of Alameda 
as a boy. After leaving school he went 
into his father's store and later went to 
Nevada as a telegraph operator, being en- 
gaged in this work for two years. Return- 
ing to Alameda he started, a wood and 
coal business which he profitably con- 
ducted for six years. 

His first work of a public nature was as 



432 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



(ic'put\- in tlie Tax Collccttir and Assessor's 
office. It was liis excellent record in this 
positinn that led to his nomination, in 1889, 
on the Repuhlican ticket for County Tax 
Collector and he was elected by a hand- 
some majority, serving until 1891. Subse- 
quent to this and immediately following 
he became City Treasurer of Alameda, re- 
taining the office from 1891 till 1895. He 
was elected to his present office in 1895, 
and the public has kept him there ever 
since, a matter of fifteen years. 

Since he assumed the office Mr. Barber 
has introduced many progressive ideas in 
the transaction of the business of the de- 
partment. He has practically reorganized 
the method of taking care of the work. He 
has really instituted his own system, mak- 
ing proper adjustments, the tensions light- 
ened here and there, until now the office 
runs like an eight-day clock. An instance 
of Mr. Barber's progressive ideas can be 
shown in the matter of introducing the 
adding machine in his office. At the pres- 
ent time no concern transacting a business 
of any magnitude where there is a large 
amount of figuring to be done would think 



of being without an adding machine, any 
more than a typewriter, but it remained 
for Mr. Barber to install the first Bur- 
roughs adding machine used in the county 
in any business, and, what is more, he paid 
for it out of his own pocket. This shows 
an initiative and unselfishness that is not 
usually found in a public official. Mr. 
Barber has always tried to do more than 
he is merely paid for. 

He counts among his close friends many 
of the first citizens of Alameda County. 
He is a member of the Native Sons, the 
Knights of Pythias, and Past Master of 
Oak Grove Lodge No. 215 of the Masonic 
order. 

Mr. Barber's marriage to Miss Anna M. 
Cook took place in Alameda on Christmas 
day, December 25, 1878. He suffered a 
severe and irreparable loss in the death of 
his son, William B. Barber, of typhoid 
fever. His son's death occurred in his 
twenty-fifth year, just as he was beginning 
to come into the powers of early man- 
hood. He had graduated from the Leland 
Stanford University with high honors and 
had a most promising future. 







Hon. James G. Quinn 



433 




HON. JAMES G. QUIXN 
Justice of the Peace of Oakland Township 

Courleiy ofDorsaz Photo 



Hon. James G. Quinn 

Justice of the Peace of Oakland Township 




NE of the most popular young 
Judges on the bench in Ala- 
meda County is James G. 
Quinn, who, by virtue of the 
busy district in which he ad- 
minsters the law, probably tries more cases 
than any other two Justice' Courts in the 
county. 

Judge Quinn is a native of the Bay State, 
born in Melrose, Massachusetts, on August 
24, 1873. He came to Oakland as a babe, 
and in boyhood attended the public schools 
in this city. After graduating from the High 
School, he entered the University of Califor- 
nia, graduating from the Law Department, 



of Hastings College of the Law, in 1896, when 
he was admitted to the bar. 

He practiced law in Oakland for a time and 
soon demonstrated his ability in argument 
and analysis in several important cases. In 
November, 1898, when little more than 25 
years of age, he received the Republican 
nomination for Justice of the Peace of Oak- 
land Township and was elected by a handsome 
majority. Since that time his record has 
really been remarkable, as he has been con- 
tinuously re-elected for nearly fourteen years; 
he has practically had no opposition at any 
time, having reecived the nominations and 
endorsements of all the parties at every elec- 



434 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



tion. The reasons for the Judge's broad 
popularity are easily apparent. His thorough 
legal education and experie^ice have given him 
an excellent equipment foi^^ his judicial duties 
in deciding intricate point^ of law; prejudice 
or favoritism have never influenced his decis- 
ions and everyone knows h|im as a fair judge. 
Outside of court his pleasing personality, 
good fellowship and likeable qualities have 
made him many friends of the permanent 
sort. 

He has always taken an active part in poli- 
tics, and has helped organize a number of 
political clubs. The James G. Quinn Repub- 
lican Club, which his friends organized about 
five years ago, is known as one of the strong- 



est political organizations on the West Side. 

Judge Quinn is a strong fraternal man, 
being a member of most all of the more im- 
portant fraternal orders, and takes great inter- 
est in all athletics and outdoor sports. 

Judge Quinn's marriage to Miss Glenora 
Belle Harris, a very estimable and accom- 
plished lady, occurred in Oakland on Febru- 
ary 16, 1901. They have two little sons, 
James G. Quinn, Jr., three years, and Wil- 
liam H. Quinn, 8 months. The family occupy 
an up-to-date and artistic little home on the 
northwest corner of Adeline and Thirtieth 
Streets, where their many friends always find 
a roval welcome. 




John Peter Cook 



435 




J. P. COOK 
County Clerk 



Courtesy of Dorsaz "Vhoto 



John Peter Cook 

County Clerk 




OUNTY CLERK JOHN P. 
COOK has well earned the 
approval of the voters of 
Alameda County for the effi- 
ciency he has shown in the 
management of that office. No man has 
assumed the duties of County Clerk with 
a better knowledge of the details of the 
department or a better general equipment 
than Mr. Cook. 

In 1896 he accepted a position as Deputy 
Clerk under F. C. Jordan, and after two 
years' service in this capacity was re- 
warded for the exceptional class of work 
he performed during that time by promo- 



tion to Chief Deputy, which position he 
held until 1902. 

In 1902 he accepted the nomination on 
the Republican ticket for County Clerk 
and was elected by a handsome majority. 
The best evidence that his administration 
has been in every way satisfactory to the 
public is the fact that the voters have 
kept him in the office now for nearly ten 
years. 

i\Ir. Cook has kept entirely free from 
private business enterprises during his ten- 
ure of office, and has been able to devote 
his whole attention and time to the man- 
agement of the affairs of his department. 



436 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Since his election he has made several im- 
portant changes in the method and system 
of conducting the business of the office 
and has been able to materially reduce its 
running expense. Perhaps there is no 
other ofifice in the county involving a 
greater amount of detail than that of the 
County Clerk, and anything short of a 
perfect organization and system would 
throw the department in confusion in a 
very short time. Mr. Cook has instituted 
such a system and requires his office force 
to adhere strictly to it. Consequently the 
business runs along in perfect order, with- 
out friction. He is progressive in his 
ideas and among other innovations has 
introduced new steel files and other fix- 
tures for documents and records to replace 
the old wooden ones, thereby providing 
additional surety against damage by fire 
or other accident. 

Mr. Cook is a native son, born in San 
Francisco on November 30, 1869. He re- 
ceived a good practical education in the 
Oakland public schools and is a graduate 



of the Oakland high school. Later he at- 
tended the University of California. His 
first salaried position was with the Whit- 
tier-Fuller Paint Company as clerk and 
collector, which he resigned to go into the 
County Clerk's office as deputy. 

His marriage to Miss Sadie Briggs, a 
native Californian and daughter of J. R. 
Briggs, of Woodland, Cal., occurred in that 
city on June 15, 1897. They have three 
children : Virginia, aged thirteen ; Mildred, 
twelve, and Carol, eight. 

Mr. Cook's father, Peter Cook, was one 
of the early pioneers of California, coming 
to the Coast by way of the Isthmus in 
1860. The elder Cook was engaged in the 
printing business in San Francisco, being 
a member of the firm of Kane & Cook. 
He has been retired from business for the 
past ten years. 

Personally County Clerk Cook is clean- 
cut in appearance, cheerful and congenial 
and well liked by his associates. He is an 
Elk, a Mason and member of Oakland 
Parlor, No. 50, of the N. S. G. W. 




GiLMAN W. Bacon 



437 



Gilman W. Bacon 

County Recorder 



OOD citizens of Alameda 
County elected Gilman W. 
Bacon Recorder of Alameda 
County last November be- 
cause his record showed that 
he deserved it. In 1902 he was elected to 
the office of County Auditor, and during 





his term of four years his work was sys- 
tematically and promptly done, he was 
courteous and painstaking in his dealings 
with the public and there was no cause 
for criticism. 

Mr. Bacon has lived in Oakland for the 
past twenty-five years, taking up his resi- 
dence here in 1885. He went to work for 
the Oakland Street Railway Company and 
was retained in its service for sixteen 
years. He has been a worker for good 
government and public improvement; he 



has been in close touch with the wage- 
earner as well as the employer and has 
been in a position to study the conditions 
existing between capital and labor, and 
should he be placed in a position of au- 
thority could be relied upon to treat both 
fairly and justly. 

Mr. Bacon is a native of the Green 
Mountain State, born in Randolph, Ver- 
mont, on October 22, 1864. He received 
his education in the public schools of his 
native city and the schools of Denver, 
graduating from a business college in the 
latter city. He has been a continuous resi- 
dent of Oakland since he was twenty-one 
years old. He has always had strong sym- 
pathies with the wage-earner and has been 
an active worker in the cause of labor 
almost since he took up his residence here. 

In 1902 he was tendered the nomination 
on the Union Labor ticket for the office 
of County Auditor and was elected by a 
goodly majority. At the expiration of his 
term he became identified with the Frank- 
lin Association of Master Printers as audi- 
tor, which position he still holds. 

In the primary election of August, 1910, 
the people direct showed their appreciation 
of his former work as County Auditor by 
nominating him for Recorder, and he was 
elected by a handsome majority. 

Mr. Bacon married Miss Hester E. 
Wood of Oakland on August 4, 1887. He 
has one married daughter, Mrs. William 
R. McHaffie. He has a large circle of 
friends throughout the city who are ready 
and willing to give him loyal support 
whenever and wherever he needs it. He 
is a prominent figure in fraternal societies, 
being Past Master of Sequoia Lodge of 
Masons and at present treasurer of that 
lodge, member of Oakland Chapter No. 36, 
Royal Arch Masons; Oakland Lodge of 
Perfection, No. 2; Oak Leaf Chapter, No. 
8, O. E. S. ; member of the Odd Fellows, 
and the Carmen's Social and Benevolent 
Society. 



438 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




GEORGE W. FRICK 
Superintendent of Public Schools 

Comiesy of Dorsum Photo 



George W. Frick 

Superintendent of Schools, Alameda County 




PUBLIC official who takes a 
heart interest in his work 
and whose broad experience 
as an educator has well 
equipped him for his duties 
is Hon. George W. Frick, the gentleman 
in active charge of public education in 
Alameda County. 

Mr. Prick's father, George Washington 
Frick, taught school for a short time at 
Centerville about 1856, after which he re- 
moved to Sonoma County. He was a man 
of resolute character and sterling prin- 
ciples. He was one of the early Republi- 



can pioneers in Sonoma County, before 
and during the years of the Civil War, 
and as a leader in the organization known 
as the Union League was a prominent fac- 
tor in saving California to the Union. He 
was the Republican candidate for sheriff 
of Sonoma County in 1860, which county 
was then the hotbed of secession, but 
withdrew after making the campaign, giv- 
ing way to the candidate of the Union 
party which was composed of Republicans 
and Douglas Democrats. During his entire 
life he was an ardent temperance advocate 
and as a pioneer of the Lompoc temper- 



George W. Frick 



439 



ance colony in Santa Barbara County, to- 
gether with other leading citizens in that 
part of the county, was put in jail over 
night for forcibly taking the liquor out of 
the town drug store, which was violating 
the community agreement that liquor 
should not be sold in the colony, and 
throwing it into the street. No further 
illustrations are needed to show ihat 
George Washington Frick had the courage 
of his convictions and woul 1 not deviate 
a hair's breadth from what he conceived 
to be his duty. 

George W. Frick was born in Santa 
Cruz, April 4, 1854, only four years after 
the birth of the State of California. Thus 
he inherited the qualities of a pioneer 
father and mother and was reared in the 
strenuous environment of frontier life. 
His schooling in this new western country 
was incomplete. He first went to a small 
ungraded school near Petaluma, and after 
attending a Prof. E. S. Lippett's private 
school in that town for a short time en- 
tered the Methodist College at Napa, 
which institution he left, however, with- 
out graduating, to work in the printing 
office of the Napa "Register" as a com- 
positor, and afterward in this capacity on 
the Petaluma "Argus" and the Petaluma 
"Courier." Many of his spare hours were 
spent in study and reading. Thus it will 
be seen that Mr. Frick was, generally 
speaking, self-educated. About 1878 he 
passed a satisfactory examination and was 
given a teacher's certificate entitling him 
to teach in the public schools of the State. 
After having taught a private school at 
Lompoc for one term and another term in 
Sebastopol, in Sonoma County, he came 
to Alameda County in July, 1879, and be- 
gan teaching in Castro Valle3\ being suc- 
cessively advanced to the principalship at 
Mount Eden, Hayward, San Leandro and 
the Tompkins school in Oakland. He was 
elected Superintendent of Schools of Ala- 
meda County in 1891, serving for four 
years. He then became principal of the 
Cole school in the city of Oakland where 
he remained continuously twelve years. 
In January, 1907, he was again elected to 
the office of Superintendent of Schools of 
Alameda County. In August, 1910, in the 
first direct primary election held under the 



new primary law, he was directly renomi- 
nated by the people for the Republican 
nomination of Superintendent, without op- 
position, polling 23,300 votes. 

In an interview Mr. Frick was glad to 
talk on the general subject of education 
and the character of his conversation indi- 
cated a comprehensive understanding of 
his work and a sincere interest in the 
welfare of tlie rising generation and a 
sympathetic co-operative spirit toward the 
principals and teachers under his jurisdic- 
tion, as well as an ardent desire for the 
highest possible efficiency. 

His administration has stood uniformly 
for increased salaries in order to secure 
the most competent teachers and to meet 
the demands of increased cost of living. 
Many changes of a progressive character 
have been introduced and the clerical and 
administrative features of the office work 
have been systematized and conducted ac- 
cording to up-to-date methods, and the 
public is always sure of courteous treat- 
ment. Mr. Frick has made a specialty of 
visiting in person the schools of his 
county frequently, it being his opinion that 
in this way only can the Superintendent 
be made of real value to the schools under 
his charge. 

He said in part: "I consider the indi- 
viduality of a teacher, or what might be 
called the teaching personality, is of much 
more importance than all other considera- 
tions in education, and for that reason it 
has been my constant effort, both as prin- 
cipal and Superintendent, to give the wid- 
est range to the individuality of the 
teacher, and also to promote this charac- 
teristic in the pupils. The development of 
the boy and girl into the ideal man and 
woman is the purpose of our public 
schools, and I believe that many methods 
may be used to accomplish that end. 
Manual training, physical culture and do- 
mestic science are rapidly becoming rec- 
ognized as a necessity, and supervised play 
and recreation, as well as school sanita- 
tion and care of the health of our children, 
are imperative demands of modern times. 
We must be careful, however, to be sure 
that fads are not mistaken for real prog- 
ress. We must be progressive, but make 
haste slowly. Our schools should be the 



440 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



bulwark of national patriotism — not the 
loud and demonstrative kind, but real and 
deep-rooted patriotism, that which leads to 
the realization of the duties of a citizen 
and the dangers of corruption and wrong- 
doing in civil life, rather than the undue 
prominence sometimes given to deeds of 
warfare. 

Superintendent Frick is well known so- 
cially in Alameda County. His domestic 
life was exceptionally happy. He married 
Miss Rhoda Louise Tucker, a native of 
Vermont and daughter of William Tucker. 
She was a resident of Oakland for many 
years and was a classmate of ex-Governor 
George C. Pardee at the University of 
California. She was class poet at the time 
of her graduation from that institution. 
Mrs. Frick died about eight years ago. 



leaving two children, Gladys Childs, now 
seventeen and an exceedingly amiable and 
bright young woman, possessing marked 
musical ability and about to graduate from 
the Oakland high school, and Raymond 
Lincoln, now fifteen years old, who has 
just entered the Oakland high school, a 
thoughtful and promising boy. 

Mr. Frick is prominent in fraternal cir- 
cles, being Past Master of Eucalyptus 
Lodge, No. 243, F. & A. M.. Hayward; a 
charter member of Oakland Chapter, F. & 
A. M.; Past Chief Patriarch Alameda En- 
campment, L O. O. F.; Past Noble Grand 
of Sycamore, L O. O. F., Hayward; Past 
President Oakland Parlor, N. S. G. W.; 
Past Exalted Ruler Oakland Lodge, No. 
17L B. P. O. E. 




John F. Mullins 



441 




JOHN F. AIULLINS 
Chairman Board of Supervisors 



John F. Mullins 

Chairman, Board of Supervisors, Alameda County 




NE of the young men of Oak- 
land who has made a remark- 
able record for his years is 
Mr. John F. Mullins, the 
present Chairman of the 
Board of Supervisors of Alameda County. 
While Mr. Mullins is a product of the 
Bay State, born in Leominster, Massachu- 
setts, on October 6, 1880, he is a Califor- 
nian at heart, as he has lived here since 
he was four years old. He enjoys an ex- 
cellent education, having attended St. Jo- 
seph's Institute and St. Mary's College, 
Oakland, graduating from the latter insti- 



tution in 1897 when but seventeen years 
of age. 

In 1898 he associated himself with Gold- 
berg, Bowen & Co., the big grocery house. 
Starting in at the bottom, he exhibited a 
degree of business ability and faithfulness 
that procured for him the confidence of 
his employers and business associates. 
When he resigned his position with this 
concern recently, after thirteen years' ser- 
vice, he was one of the department managers 
of the store. 

In 1907 he accepted the nomination on 
the Republican ticket for City Councilman, 



442 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



receiving the endorsement of the Munici- 
pal League, and was elected by a goodly 
majority. As Councilman he always sup- 
ported all needed public improvements, 
favoring additional schools and the best 
educational advantages possible for the ris- 
ing generation of Oakland. He also firmly 
believed in a strict regulation of the liquor 
traffic. He was instrumental in bringing 
about the filling in of West Oakland Park 
and fought hard for the improvement and 
development of the West Oakland water 
front, commonly called the Key Route 
basin. 

In the fall of 1910 he was urged to run 
for County Supervisor and was elected by 
the handsome majority of 4,500 votes, the 
largest in the history of the district. Mr. 
Mullins enjoys the distinction of being the 
first candidate to defeat the "regulars" in 
that district. As County Supervisor, he 
acts on the Finance, Hospital and License 
Committees. As chairman of the License 
Committee he framed a new liquor ordi- 
nance, limiting the number of saloons and 



granting licenses only under the most 
strict conditions. Mr. Mullins has always 
persistently fought "road houses" doing 
business under lax methods. As a member 
of the Hospital Committee he has advised 
modern buildings with up-to-date equip- 
ment, modeled after the best institutions 
in the United States. As a member of the 
Finance Committee he has always fought 
for an economical administration where 
the expenditure of public funds was in- 
volved and believes that all large issues 
in this respect should be submitted to the vote 
of the people. 

Mr. Mullins was elected Chairman of the 
Board of Supervisors to succeed Mr. Hor- 
ner when the latter was appointed County 
Assessor, vice Henry P. Dalton. 

Mr. Mullins is well known in fraternal 
circles, being president of the Y. M. L, 
member of the Moose, and of the State 
Republican Committee. He resides with 
his father and sister at 1115 Poplar Street, 
Oakland. 



Fred Walter Foss 



443 




FRED. WALTER FOSS 
Member Board of Supervisors 



Fred Walter Foss 



Member of the Board of Supervisors, Alameda County 




GENTLEMAN known through- 
out Alameda County for his 
public spirit, broad views and 
fairness in matters coming be- 
fore the County Board of 
Supervisors is Mr. Fred W. Foss, now 
acting as Chairman of the Finance Com- 
mittee in that body. 

Mr. Foss is a native of Missouri, born in 
Lynn County, on August 1, 1871. He came 
to San Francisco as a boy and attended 
the public schools of that city. Having 
decided upon a practical business career 
early in life, he entered the Commercial 
High School of San Francisco, of which 



he is a graduate. After attaining a thor- 
ough practical school education he ac- 
cepted a position as bookkeeper with the 
Central Lumber and Mill Company and 
was with that concern for two years, from 
1887 to 1889. He then became associated 
with the C. L. Dingley Company as yard 
clerk, bookkeeper and salesman and acted 
in this capacity for four years, from 1889 
until 1893, when he was tendered a better 
position by the Pacific Lumber Company. 
In 1895, after having mastered the de- 
tails of the lumber business thoroughly 
and having well merited confidence in his 
ability to succeed, he resigned his position 



444 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



with the Pacific Lumber Company and 
established himself in the lumber business 
in Berkeley. His success was almost im- 
mediate, and the F. W. Foss Company, of 
which he is president, is now one of the 
well and favorably known business insti- 
tutions of the county. 

Mr. Foss enjoys the distinction of having 
been one of the fifteen Freeholders who 
framed the Berkeley Charter, and takes a 
just pride in the fact that he has been identi- 
fied with the public affairs of that thriving 
city in some of its most important measures 
that will remain landmarks in its history. 
His progressive ideas and energy have done 
much for the city of Berkeley. He is an 
important factor in the Chamber of Com- 
merce and was its President from 1895 to 
1897. 

The broad business experience acquired 
by Mr. Foss has made him a valuable ac- 
quisition to the Board of Supervisors. It 
has been his constant aim to see that all 
affairs coming before the Board are con- 
ducted along business lines and upon a 
"cash" basis. As a Supervisor he has used 
influence toward giving everyone a square 
deal, and an equal opportunity for legiti- 
mate competition in awarding public con- 
tracts and expending public funds generally. 
It has been his particular desire that all 
moneys should be used for improvements 
of a permanent sort that will remain monu- 



ments to the county when carried out. 

In an interview he said: "I believe that 
a community with the wealth of Alameda 
County should have an up-to-date and first- 
class public hospital. The institution should 
be sanitary in every particular, with the 
advanced scientific medical appliances and 
conveniences and a credit to the county. 
I believe that this important measure should 
be submitted to the people for approval 
and provided for in a bond issue, the burden 
of which should be distributed among those 
who will have need of an institution of this 
kind in future years." 

Mr. Foss's marriage to Miss Anna M. 
Renwick, a social favorite of San Francisco, 
took place in that city in 189.3. The mar- 
ried life of the pair had been ideal, until 
death carried off the young wife on New 
Year's Day, 1910. In her death Mr. Foss 
suffered a severe and irreparable loss. He 
has four young children, two girls. Anita L., 
8 and Lulu R., 9, and two boys, William R , 
13 and Elmer R., 2. 

In politics Mr. Foss is a staunch Repub- 
lican and was the first President of the 
Lincoln-Roosevelt Republican League of 
Berkeley. He is President of that organi- 
zation at the present time. He is a mem- 
ber of the Berkeley Elks, Lodge No. 1002, 
I. O. O. F.. Woodmen of the World and Past 
Vice-Chairman of the Hoo-Hoos of Cali- 
fornia. 




W. B. Bridge 



445 



W. B. Bridge 

County Supervisor 



R. W. B. BRIDGE, who has 
been an aggressive worker 
for public betterments and an 
active factor in the political 
arena of Alameda County for 
a long time, deserves prominent mention 
in these pages for his public work. 





Courtesy of Bus hn ell Thoto 

Mr. Bridge is a native of London, Eng- 
land, born on the 17th day of August, 
1861. Coming to America in his early 
youth, he has assimilated Western ideas 
and principles, and is now thoroughly 
American. He received his education in 
the public schools of Alameda County, and 
later graduated from Taylor's Business 
College with honors. Being a young man, 
vigorous and fond of the open, he engaged 
in the business of raising cattle and ranch- 
ing in this county, following that occu- 
pation for twelve years. 



In 1896 he was elected School Trustee 
for Fruitvale, to which office he was re- 
elected at the expiration of his first term, 
serving in all six years. He made an 
excellent School Trustee and during his 
administration there were two schools built 
in Fruitvale, one on Fruitvale Avenue and 
one on Allandale Avenue. He worked 
hard for increased school facilities, work- 
ing hard to have the number of school 
rooms increased from twelve to twenty- 
four. He also did good work as Road 
Foreman under J. R. Talcut, where he 
served for six years. 

In 1907 he accepted the nomination for 
Supervisor, and was elected by a good 
majority, and at the subsequent election, 
in 1910, was again elected on the Repub- 
lican ticket, receiving the endorsement of 
the Democrats as well. 

As Supervisor, he acts on the Bridge 
and Road Committee, the Finance Com- 
mittee, and has been a member of the 
Building Committee for two years. He is 
a strong supporter of good roads, having 
constructed about one-half of the Boule- 
vard road, completing it in two years. He 
is also Chairman of the Hospital Com- 
mittee. He believes that a thoroughly 
adequate and modern County Hospital 
should be constructed, and the money 
should be raised by a special tax, eliminat- 
ing the big expense of a special bond issue 
election. He also favors the building of 
a new Courthouse. 

In 1890 Mr. Bridge married Miss Rosina 
Heiser of Contra Costa County, a Native 
Daughter and a daughter of one of the 
old pioneers of California. There are four 
children, Ruth, 11. Ruby, 14, Miss Pearl, 
17 and Miss May, 19 years, the two latter 
daughters being graduates from the Fre- 
mont High School, and the younger chil- 
dren attending Grammar School. 

Mr. Bridge showed his strength in the 
last primary election, when he came out 
victoriously, notwithstanding the hard fight 
made against his election by the strong 
political faction in opposition. 



446 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



Judge Daniel Joseph Murphy 

Member Board of Supervisors, Alameda County 




UDGE D. J. MURPHY, the 
recently appointed member of 
the Alameda County Board 
of Supervisors, is a native 
Californian, born in Wash- 




HON. JUDGE D. J. MURPHY 
Member Board of Supervisors 

ington Townsliip on March 5, 1863, and 
is one of the representative citizens of 
Livermore, where he makes his home. 

He has been successfully engaged in the 
general merchandise business in Livermore, 



and is at present a Director and Stock- 
holder in the Farmers' & Merchants' Bank 
in that city. He has always been an active 
worker for progress and public better- 
ments, not only in the district in which 
he lives, but has encouraged and supported 
all measures looking toward the develop- 
ment of Alameda County. 

He was appointed Deputy Sheriff in 
this county about fourteen years ago under 
Bob McKillican and served one year. Sub- 
sequent to this he was appointed Post- 
master of Livermore. In 1910 he was 
appointed by the Board of Supervisors as 
Justice of the Peace in Livermore, to fill 
the vacancy caused by the death of Judge 
Wright. He has been a member of the 
City Council in his home city for eleven 
years. 

In the 'summer of 1911, he was appointed 
by Governor Johnson to a place on the 
Board of Supervisors of Alameda County 
to fill a vacancy in that body caused by 
the resignation of Supervisor Horner to 
assume the office of County Assessor. He 
is now acting on the Finance Committee, 
Committee on Public Roads and Bridges, 
and is chairman of the Committee on Pub- 
lic Printing. Judge Murphy will no doubt 
make an excellent Supervisor, as he has 
lived in this county all his life and knows 
what is needed in the way of public im- 
provements. He states that as a member 
of the Board he will give particular atten- 
tion to the improvement and extension of 
public highways, and wherever practicable 
will recommend modern steel bridges. 

Judge Murphy is a member of the Na- 
tive Sons, Druids, U. P. E. C, and several 
other clubs and associations. 



Dr. Charles Lewis Tisdale 



447 




DR. CHAS. LEWIS TISDALE 
County Coroner 



Dr. Charles Lewis Tisdale 

County Coroner 




HEN the statement is made 
that Dr. Charles Lewis Tis- 
dale has had conferred upon 
him almost every honor in 
line with a medical man's 
ambition, we deviate very little from the 
literal truth. 

Dr. Tisdale is a New Yorker by birth, 
born in the city of Auburn, N. Y., on the 
2d day of June, 1858. He enjoys an un- 
usually broad and finished education; after 
attending the public schools of Elmira, 
N. Y., as a boy, he entered Wesleyan Col- 
lege, of Lima, N. Y., of which he is a 
graduate. Later he attended the Univer- 
sity of Michigan. 



After completing his general education, 
he decided upon the medical profession as 
his field of usefulness, and it was about 
this time that he came to California. He 
went East, entered the Hahnemann Medi- 
cal College of Chicago, and graduated from 
that institution in March, 1878. The doc- 
tor had made such a record in the medical 
college that he was enabled to graduate 
before he was 21 years of age, but, of 
course, could not legally begin active prac- 
tice at once, as he had not yet reached his 
majority. The fact that he was in every 
other way fully qualified to engage in his 
chosen profession at this early age is in 
itself good evidence of his adaptability, and 



448 



Greater Oakland, 1911 



ready grasp of the science of medicine. 

Shortly after his graduation, he received 
an appointment from the Hawaiian Gov- 
ernment as Government physician on the 
island of Hawaii, in which capacity he 
served for five years witli credit to him- 
self. 

Probably most men would have been 
content with the knowledge obtained 
through a graduate course in a first-class 
medical college and a good many years of 
practical experience in active practice, but 
Dr. Tisdale seemed to exhibit an unusual 
thirst for knowledge, for, after his service 
in Hawaii, he went to New York City 
and took a post graduate course in the 
New York Homeopathic Medical College. 

It was with this exceptional equipment 
that he came to Alameda and engaged in 
the practice of medicine, and his time has 
been busily occupied with the work of his 
profession ever since. 

Dr. Tisdale was elected County Coroner 
of Alameda County in 1906. The public 
has shown its appreciation of its good 
fortune in having a man of his capabilities 
in that office and he was re-elected in the 
fall of 1910. During his tenure of office 
he has held over 2,000 inquests personally. 
The work of the office has vastly increased 
since his first installation and it now re- 
quires eleven deputies to handle the busi- 
ness of the department. 

Notwithstanding the rapid growth and 
increased importance of the office, the 
work has been thoroughly systematized 
and conducted without friction or confu- 
sion. . Dr. Tisdale has been a member of 
the Board of Medical Examiners for 
twenty consecutive years, and consequently 
holds the record for length of continuous 
service on that Board; he is its present 
secretary, and has been for the past seven 
years. He has been treasurer of the Cali- 
fornia State Homeopathic Society for the 
past twenty years and professor of physi- 



ology and professor of theory and practice 
of medicine in the Hahnemann Medical 
College of San Francisco up to ten years 
ago. 

In 1890 he consented to act as a mem- 
ber of the Board of Education in the city 
of Alameda, where he served for eight 
years, having. been president of the Board 
for two years. He received the appoint- 
ment of U. S. pension surgeon in 1898, 
and, after occupying this position for 
eleven years, resigned on account of pres- 
sure of other business. He was also for 
seven years physician for the County Jail, 
to which position he was appointed by the 
Board of Supervisors. 

In addition to these various positions 
of responsibility, he has been chairman of 
the Congressional Committee of the Third 
Congressional District for many years. 

Dr. Tisdale married Miss Emma Krum, 
in Schoharie, New York, in October, 1884. 
He is the son of Dr. Thomas P. Tisdale, 
who is now living, and practicing medicine 
in Alameda; the elder Tisdale enjoys ex- 
cellent health, and is hale and hearty at 
the ripe old age of 80. Dr. Tisdale has 
three daughters, all popular socially, Mrs. 
E. L. Varney, Miss Ruth, 22, and Dorothy, 
19, all graduates of the Alameda High 
School and the latter now attending the 
Girls' Collegiate School, of Los Angeles. 

Dr. Tisdale has always been a staunch 
Republican, but, notwithstanding this fact, 
has received the endorsement of the Demo- 
cratic party when running for office, which 
is the best proof of his efficiency and pop- 
ularity. Personally he is blufif and frank 
in manner, full blooded, fond of all ath- 
letics, and one of the faithful "rooters" 
for the Oakland ball team. 

He is well known in fraternal circles, 
being past exalted ruler of the Elks, Oak- 
land No. 171, Oak Grove Lodge of Masons 
and several other organizations and clubs. 



Dr. H. B. Mehrmann 



449 



Dr. H. B. Mehrmann 

Public Administrator 



R. H. B. MEHRMANN, the 
present Public Administrator 
of the city of Oakland, is a 
native of Wisconsin, born in 
Fountain City on August 17, 



1864. He received his early education in 





the schools of Wisconsin and Chicago. 
After four years in Chicago, he came to 
Oakland, where he has resided ever since. 
In April, 1885, he graduated from the 
California Medical College with honors, 



receiving his license to practice medicine 
just about 26 years ago, at the early age of 
21. In 1898 he was elected County Coro- 
ner, in which office he served with credit 
to himself for eight years, until 1906. 

In September, 1909, he was appointed by 
the Board of Supervisors to the office of 
Public Administrator, vice George Gray, 
and was re-elected to succeed himself at 
the last election. Dr. Mehrmann has in- 
troduced a number of improvements in the 
methods of conducting the business of his 
department since he took over the office. 
He insists upon the law being strictly ad- 
hered to. All moneys coming into his pos- 
session are immediately turned over to the 
County Treasurer, and no moneys are paid 
out except upon the order of the County 
Treasurer, countersigned by the Probate 
Judge of the Superior Court. He now has 
the work of the office so systematized 
that the standing and status of any or all 
estates can be determined in five minues' 
time, as the records are filed according to 
business methods, and are posted right up 
to date at all times. 

Dr. Mehrmann's marriage to Miss Anna 
C. Curdts, of San Jose, took place in that 
city on April 12, 1887. He has one daugh- 
ter. Miss Helen Alice, about eighteen years 
of age, who is well known socially through- 
out the city. The doctor is prominent in 
fraternal circles, being a member of the 
Elks, Eagles, Woodmen of the World, 
Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, and sev- 
eral other clubs and associations. 

Dr. Mehrmann is the son of Dr. J. F. 
Mehrmann, now practicing medicine, and 
well known in Oakland. 



450 



Greater Oakland, 1911 




FRANK BARNET 
County Sheriff 

Courtesy ofDorsaz Photo 



Frank Barnet 

County Sheriff 




OTWITHSTANDING his of- 
fice, and the occasional un- 
pleasant duties he is called 
u p o n to perform. County 

Sheriff Frank Barnet is as 

popular as any public official in Alameda 
County. He was born in Oakland on 
August 26, 1866, and has lived here all his 
life. 

The secret of Mr. Barnet's popularity is 
not hard to find. He is a big, full-blooded, 
energetic man, of big ideas and broad 
sympathies. Being a true son of the West, 



he is open and frank in his conversation, 
fearless in the performance of his official 
duties, and faithful and loyal to his friends. 
Mr. Barnet could, if he chose to do so, 
furnish the publishers sufficient data to 
enable them to make this little sketch a 
very thrilling tale, because in the perform- 
ance of his duties as Sheriff he has come 
in contact with many desperate criminals 
and has made several important captures. 
The interviewer asked Mr. Barnet to relate 
a few of these incidents for publication, 
and his reply was characteristic of the 



Frank Barnet 



451 



man: "I could no doubt tell of several 
personal experiences in my dealings with 
law-breakers that might prove interesting, 
but in doing so it would necessitate men- 
tioning the names of individuals, who, hav- 
ing served their sentences, are now no 
doubt trying to lead straight and honest 
lives, and through consideration for them 
I have no desire to add unnecessary pub- 
licity to incidents that are past and gone 
into history." 

After finishing a good, practical educa- 
tion at the public schools of Oakland, and 
being possessed of a naturally artistic 
temperment, he found a position as an 
interior decorator. He did some unusually 
good work in this line in Oakland and 
vicinity for several years. 

In 1897 he accepted an appointment as 
engrossing clerk in the Legislature and 
continued in the position during the ses- 
sion; in this work Mr. Barnet had under 
him eight assistants. He next was ap- 
pointed License Collector under Tax Col- 
lector Barber, and following this was 
Deputy Clerk of the Supreme Court under 



Mr. George Root. His next work was as 
shorthand Court Reporter for the District 
Attorney's office of Alameda County. 

Mr. Barnet was appointed County Sherifif 
on March 2, 190.5, by the County Board 
of Supervisors, to fill the vacancy caused 
by the death of Mr. John Bishop, and for 
his excellent record in the office was re- 
elected in the Fall of 1906 for an addi- 
tional term of four years. In the primary 
election of August, 1910, the people again 
nominated him for the office and his re- 
election was assured. 

Mr. Barnet is a member of several clubs 
and fraternal organizations, including the 
Elks and Native Sons. His marriage to 
Miss Minnie Thompson took place in Oak- 
land on November 19, 1904, and has been 
a fortunate one. He takes great pleasure 
in the entertainment of his friends, and his 
home has been the scene of many social 
functions during past years. During his 
life's residence in Oakland he has made 
many friends, and what is more to the 
point, he retains the respect and goodwill 
of every friend he makes. 




452 



Greater Oakland, 19i1 



Percy A. Haviland 

County Surveyor 



HEN the interviewer called 
upon County Surveyor Havi- 
land, in gathering material 
for this sketch, he found a 
quiet, retiring gentleman 
who was a little reticent in talking either 
of himself or his work. He is a man who 
no doubt holds tliat a man's work is of 
more import tlian his words; he dabbles 





very little in politics and sticks pretty 
close to his professional duties. 

Mr. Haviland is a native of Iowa, born 
in Fort Dodge, on September 8, 186.'). 
Upon the foundation of a practical educa- 
tion in the public schools of his home 
town, he entered the Iowa State Univer- 
sity, where he took a thorough engineer- 
ing course. 

After finishing his studies at the uni- 
versity he was tendered a position with 
the Union Pacific Railway Company in 
the Engineering Department, and after 
several years' satisfactory service with 
them, came to California. He established 
a private engineering office in San Luis 
Obispo and for two years did work of 



various kinds as consulting engineer, 
drafting, and work of a similar sort in 
line witli his profession. 

Following this he came to Oakland, 
where he took up his residence. At about 
this time he accepted a position in the 
City Engineer's office, where he remained 
for several years. 

Mr. Haviland has been connected witli 
the Department of Engineering in various 
capacities in Alameda County for the past 
eigliteen years. As County Surveyor he 
has conducted the work of liis office in 
a business-like and systematic manner, 
and the public are to be congratulated in 
securing the services of a man of his 
broad experience, integrity and unques- 
tioned ability in the Engineering Depart- 
ment of the county. He is uniformly 
courteous and prompt in his business 
transactions and in his dealing with his 
associates and office stafif. The best proof 
of his popularity is the fact that he has, 
for two elections, received the endorse- 
ment of both the Republican and Demo- 
cratic parties, and at the last election was 
nominated by the Republican, Democratic 
and Union Labor parties. 

Mr. Haviland has recently had super- 
vision of some very important public 
work. The construction of the county 
boulevard, wliich was planned by him, is 
widely known as one of the finest works 
of its kind in the State. He is at present 
engaged in work involving several millions 
of dollars, in the matter of laying out a 
sewer system from Oroville to Tulare 
and similar work in Pleasanton and other 
points in the State. 

Mr. Haviland's marriage to Miss Anna 
Knight of San Francisco, who comes from 
a prominent English family, took place in 
that city in 1895. There are two children 
in the family, one boy, Carlton, aged 10, 
and Marian, a daughter of 12. 

Mr. Haviland has had to make his own 
way in tlie world, and is what is generally 
called a "self-made" man. During his long 
residence in Oakland he has become well 
liked in both his social and business inter- 
course, and has many firm friends through- 
out the county. 



Maurice S. Stewart 



453 



Maurice S. Stewart 

Actor-Artist 



WELL-KNOWN young art- 
ist of Oakland, who has liad 
a unique and interesting 
career, is Mr. Maurice S. 
Stewart. A native of St. 
Louis, he attended a military academy, in 
his early j'outh, but received most of his 





education through broad travel and ob- 
servation. 

He was practically raised in the theatrical 
profession, and has visited nearly every city 
in the country during his tours. He came to 
the Pacific Coast with the "Crystal Slipper" 
company in 1891, and played for two years in 
the old Grand Opera House in San Fran- 



cisco, and quite recently in the Alcazar 
Theatre in that city. He also acted as lead- 
ing comedian for Bishop's Players in Oakland 
for four years. 

Mr. Stewart has always been keenly inter- 
ested in the art of photography, and even 
when an actor derived considerable pleasure 
from it as a pastime. About seven years 
ago, he established his present studio at 460 
Thirteenth Street, Oakland, and has been pre- 
eminently successful. For a number of years 
he did all the outside work for Wickham- 
Havens, and during the construction of the 
big plant of the Standard Oil Company at 
Point Richmond, made all the photographs 
which were sent to the headquarters of that 
concern in New York. He has also made 
a specialty of lantern slides for the use of 
lecturers, and moving picture theatres; he is 
agent for Bausch & Lomb of Rochester, N. Y., 
manufacturers of stereopticon appliances and 
agent for the Edison moving picture machines. 

It is significant that Mr. Stewart has se- 
lected the city of Oakland as his home and 
place of business, notwithstanding the unusual 
opportunities he has had to study many cities 
in the country. 

Mr. Stewart's marriage to Miss Carolina 
M. Stivers, a daughter of Dr. Stivers, a well- 
known professional man, and for a number of- 
years member of the Faculty of Cooper's 
Medical Institute of San Francisco, occurred 
in Oakland in 1893. He has one daughter, 
Gladys, aged 11. About two years ago he 
built one of the most artistic little homes in 
Piedmont, at a cost of $9,000. 

Mr. Stewart is widely known among pro- 
fessional people, literary men and artists. He 
also takes an active interest in all athletics, 
and was for a long time captain of athletics 
of the Reliance Club of Oakland. 

Many of the pictures in this volume are the 
products of Mr. Stewart's studio. 




Alameda County Jail, O iklaiid, California 




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Bacon Bnilding, 12th and Washinifton Sts.. one of the handsome and well-appointed office buildings of Oakland 



Oakland's Y. M. C. A. — Postoffice 



455 




Spa, Bowling Alley. Gymnasium and Billiard Rooms in Oakland's Y. M. C. A. 





Post Office, 16th and Broadway, Oakland, California 







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